ME STO fanfiction
by Rorikjr
Summary: After the Crucible fired, the crew of the SSV Normandy SR-2 find themselves in an alternate Milky Way, where Earth is still present but the Systems Alliance is replaced by the United Federation of Planets. Will Shepard and crew find a way back, or did the Federation find a permanent crew for unofficial black ops with full deniability? (currently hiatus until my spark comes back)
1. Prologue

_**I do not own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online** _ **. I have changed the way**_ **ME3** _ **ends. I use the**_ **MEHEM** _ **(**_ **Mass Effect Happy Ending Mod** _ **) in my game. I do, kinda, own some of the characters from**_ **STO** _ **, as in, I created my captain, gave him a background, and the relationships with the bridge crew. I did start one story, but I deleted it. I am (at the time I'm making this page) writing a**_ **Dragon Age Origins** _ **fanfiction. I have gotten better at writing stories, I believe, so I am restarting this one and I was doing it on my phone. I will explain 'my'**_ **Shepard** _ **. He is an Earthborn,**_ _ **Sole**_ _ **Survivor. He is mostly Paragon, but still has the same scars from the beginning of**_ **ME2** _ **, I never liked the fact that in**_ **ME2** _ **the only way to get rid of the scars is to get the Medbay upgrade but in**_ **ME3** _ **you automatically have no scars even if you never got rid of them in**_ **ME2** _ **I personally liked the scars. His list of dead 'family members' are:**_ **Thane** _ **,**_ **Mordin** _ **,**_ **Kaidan** _ **, and**_ **Legion** _ **. Enjoy the story.**_

 _Prologue_

 _Cockpit_

The Normandy enters FTL, with the red orb following behind. As the red orb that came from the Crucible starts to reach the ship, a wormhole opens up behind them. It gets closer to the point where they are eventually engulfed by it.

"Warning: systems overloading," EDI says as sparks started to fly from a nearby console.

"Hold on, EDI," Joker yells as he interacted with his console. "Rerouting power. Hold it together, baby," he mumbles to the ship, "hold it together, I'm not losing another Normandy."

 _Medbay_

After another violent rock, Ashley loses her balance, causing her to lean against a window. Shepard is laying on one of the beds, hooked up to some medical machines. _'God, please keep us safe and bring Shepard back to me,'_ Ashley prayed as she lost her balance again, this time it caused her to bump into the man she loves. "Please Shepard, please don't leave me again."

Across from her Dr. Chakwas fare little better. "I've done the best I can right now. He's stabilized but we need to stop getting thrown around, so I can do better work."

"Thank you, Doc. Thank you." It feels like a lot of weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. That's when they notice that the shaking has started to subside. "EDI talk to us, what's happening?"

" _It appears that we have finished passing through a wormhole."_

Ashley and Chakwas looked at each other. "What do you mean 'a wormhole'?"

" _Sensors are down, so I'm not sure but what we have just passed through has the same characteristics as an_ _Einstein_ _-_ _Rosen Bridge."_

" _Yeah well,"_ Joker interrupts, _"let's worry about this wormhole later. We need to set the ship down and make repairs. There is a planet within visual range. But I don't know what's on it. But without sensors, it's safer than staying up here."_

"Agreed. Land on the planet so we can focus on repairs." Ashley looks to Chakwas. "See what you can do for him." She holds his hand and looks at Shepard's scarred bloody face.

" _You aren't gonna leave his side, are you?"_ came a voice from behind. Ashley spun around. She was so focus on Shepard that she didn't notice that Liara came in. "Don't worry," Liara said as she put her hand on Ashley's shoulder, "he is pretty much the same with you. After your encounter the Cerberus machine, Shepard carried you on to the ship and put you on this same bed. The only time he didn't watch over you was when Hackett called, but as soon as they were done talking, he immediately came back to check on you. He loves you, so he would want you to go get some rest. I'll come get you the moment he wakes up."

Ashley hugs Liara, "Thanks, Liara, I'll be in the captain's quarters." With that she heads off to the elevator.

 _Few hours later._

 _Groan._ Shepard slowly opens his eyes and tries to get up. Pain shoots through every fiber of his being. "Shepard! Thank the Goddess, you're alive. I'll be right back," Liara says as she bolts out of the medbay to the elevator.

Chakwas walks up. "You had us worried. How do you feel?"

Shepard sits up with some effort, "Like I took a trip through Hell and back. How long was I out, and don't say 15 hours, please?"

She chuckles. "No, not that long. A few hours, but it's hard to tell when you're getting thrown around."

Shepard chuckles, "Sounds like I missed a helluva ride. How long until I'm fit for active duty?"

"Anyone else, I would say around a week. But with you, a day, two at most. Just take it easy for now."

" _ **SHEPARD!"**_ He turns and braces himself just in time as Ashley basically tackles him. As they lay down on the bed, hugging and kissing each other, Chakwas makes a motion to let Liara know to give them some time alone. As they leave, both Shepard and Ashley are crying tears of joy. "God. I knew you wouldn't leave me, not again," Ashley whimpered out as she pulled her head back a bit.

"I would never leave you, Ash, not again. I love you."

"I love you too, Shepard."

"John."

"What?"

"Please," Shepard said as he brought her closer, "just call me John."

Ashley smiled as she rested her head on his chest, "OK, John, OK."

 _Captain's Quarters_

A few minutes has passed since the Normandy has landed on the planet. During that time, Shepard and Ashley went to go get ready for the memorial service. Shepard rested his hand on the sink and looked at his reflection. Normally, he would be impressed with how fast his scars were healing, but he could careless right now. His mind kept going back to the Citadel and what happened.

' _Look at the power they wield. Look at what they can do.' Gunshot. Smash. Thud._

" _John, you OK? John? Shepard!?"_ Ashley forcefully opens the bathroom and sees Shepard huddled in a corner. "John what happened?" she asks as she approaches her love and notices the blood on his hand, and the broken mirror.

He mumbles, "I killed him. I killed him."

"Who did you kill?"

"Anderson. The bastard made me kill him. You remember those logs with the Illusive Man, back on Cronos Station?" She nods. "Well, he had Reaper tech grafted into him. Using this tech, he made me pull the trigger on my gun and shoot David."

"Oh my God… He was the closest thing to a father, wasn't he?"

"Yeah… just give me a second."

 _A few minutes later, at the Memorial Wall on the crew quarters level._

Old fashion military music, used to honor the fallen. was playing. There stood the crew. Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Javik, Dr. Liara T'Soni, EDI, James Vega, Dr. Karin Chakwas, Gabriella Daniels, Kenneth Donnelly, Greg Adams, Samantha Traynor, Steve Cortez, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Ashley Williams, and John Shepard all stood in front of the Wall, with Shepard holding a plaque. Shepard slowly walks up to the wall and carefully puts the plaque of 'ADM DAVID ANDERSON' in the middle of the Wall. He backs up and salutes, and everyone, including the non-human crew except Javik, follows. Shepard says, "Admiral David Anderson, was a proud and honorable member of the Alliance. The first to graduate from the N7 program and later served in the First Contact War. He served as captain of the original Normandy, three years ago, then gave me command of the ship. It was his action that allowed us to get to Ilos and delay the Reaper invasion. He was a good friend and the closest thing I had to a father. It was him, who showed me that there was a better option than a gang. Without him, none of us would be here, today." Shepard puts his hand down and the rest follow. He turns around to face the crew. "Some of you might wonder how he died. It was on the Citadel. The Illusive Man was there. He augmented himself with Reaper tech. With it, he took control of me and Anderson. The bastard made me shoot my friend." He looks at the dogtags that belong to Anderson. He closes his hand over them as he looks at the crew. "Joker, how long on those repairs?"

"Well, the ship took a beating worse than at the Collector's base. I don't know how long, though."

"Adams?"

Adams answers with, "Well, I can get the ship able to limp her way back to Earth within a week, two at the most. If I can get the communication systems working, I can send out an S.O.S. and see if anyone comes to help."

"Get on it. The rest of us will help where we can. You're dismissed." Everyone left, leaving Shepard with Ashley. "Ash, I need to be left alone. For now." Shepard took a step forward and collapsed. Ashley caught him and took him to the medbay. As Ashley helped him onto a bed, Shepard said, "Thanks. I just need some sleep." He lays down and sleeps.


	2. Chapter 1

_**I do not own**_ **Mass** **Effect** _ **or**_ **Star** **Trek** **Online**

 _Chapter 1_

 _Medbay_

Shepard wakes up and finds Ashley's sleeping head on his chest, her usual hair bun replaced with unkept nappy hair. He uses his left hand to carefully move a strand of hair from her face. The motion causes her to wake. Shepard smiles. "Not that I don't love you, it's just that Chakwas told me to take it easy."

She picks her head up. "Oh, John. I did not mean to fall asleep on you. How are you feeling?"

"Better. Help me up." Shepard gets off the bed and on his feet with the help of Ashley.

Garrus and Tali walk in. Garrus looks at the quarian. "See, I told you. He's fine. Remember, even Harbinger couldn't kill him, so why should we worry when he needed sleep?"

"I know, but it was a bit sudden."

Garrus walks up to Shepard. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." He looks at Tali. "Tali, how are the repairs going?"

"Well, we got comms and sensors up and running."

"But…"

The quarian sighs. "But we have no idea where we are."

"So we don't know what planet we landed on?"

"Yeah."

"So there might be a chance we won't get help."

"Very likely."

"We need to do recon on the planet, so we can get an idea of where we are."

Garrus spoke up. "I figured you might say that. I already got our equipment ready. Just say the word and the four of us will go."

"Four?"

"What? I thought you and Ash would like to stretch your legs."

"Thanks. I'll go see Chakwas and see if I can leave."

 _Meanwhile._

"Captain's log. Stardate: 95363.1765. Our allies in the Delta Quadrant has said that a wormhole has opened and closed, and within a few hours, a distress signal has been reported. Starfleet Command has tasked the _Liberty_ to investigate these reports. However, to our best knowledge, there has never been any strange anomalies recorded near Kobali Prime or anywhere in the Kobata Sector. Now we have been given a partial recording of the distress signal, however, there have been no signals to match it with. As far as we know this could be a trap. We will be approaching the Dyson Sphere gateway soon, and I will continue the log once we are in the Delta Quadrant. End of log," he says as he pushes a button on his chair. Fleet Admiral Clifton "Rorik" Dunsworth has had this feeling ever since Command had contacted him. He ran his hand over his stubble. He looked to his navigation officer. "Ensign… Irani, was it?" That was the thing he hated with these bigger ships, he couldn't keep up with everyone's names.

The ensign swiveled his chair around. "Y-Yes, sir," stuttered the young Hispanic.

"How long until we reach the sphere?"

"One hour, two at most."

"Thank you."

"Y-Yes, sir." The young kid turned back to the console. Rorik looked at the viewscreen as if it was under an interrogation.

First officer, Commander Yolis Dunsworth, walks up to him. "Captain, you're staring at the screen. What's on your mind?"

Rorik took his eyes off the screen and looked at his wife. "I have a bad feeling about this," he says as he looks back at the screen. "As far as we know, there has been no recorded or any evidence of any spatial anomalies anywhere in the Kobata Sector. Plus, a signal that does not have even a partial match to any signals recorded." He looks at her. "I feel like we're walking into a trap."

She looks at him. "Honestly, I have no idea what this means. But you look tired. Go get some sleep. I'll take over."

"I'm fine."

The Trill crosses her arms. "Captain, I respectfully request that you go get some sleep."

He smiles at her persistence. "Perhaps you're right. I'll get some sleep. Commander, you have com." He gets up and walks to the elevator.

 _Back at the planet._

Shepard got off the elevator and headed to his locker. After he got the OK from Dr. Chakwas, he went to his quarters to grab an important item that he needed. He opened his locker and expected to have his N7 armor ready, but the blast from Harbinger destroyed it beyond repair. Luckily, he had other N7 armors to use. Shepard decided to use the Hahne-Kedar armor. After getting the armor on, he walked over to the weapons locker. Looking at the weapons, Shepard grabbed the M-15 Vindicator battle rifle and M-3 Predator heavy pistol. He would have liked to pick weapons that pack more punch, but Chakwas told him to take it easy.

While Shepard goes to load his two guns, the others pick theirs. Garrus grabs a Phaeston assault rifle, his signature M-92 Mantis sniper rifle, and a Predator pistol. Ashley grabs a M-8 Avenger assault rifle, a Black Widow anti-material sniper rifle, a M-27 Scimitar assault shotgun, and a M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol. Tali goes for the Geth Pulse Rifle, Geth Plasma Shotgun and Arc Pistol. After they all loaded their weapons, Shepard leads the group to the cargo bay door. After the door opens, the team steps out to an incredibly beautiful world they could never imagine. Shepard says over his shoulder, "Keep a sharp eye out. While this planet may look beautiful and peaceful, looks can be deceiving. Let's move out."

 _Meanwhile._

"Captain's log. Stardate: 95364.1311. The _Liberty_ has gone through the gateway and is now enroute to the coordinates provided to us by Command. Once we are in the Kobata Sector, we will go to yellow alert and search around for any evidence of either the wormhole or this strange signal. End of log," Rorik says as he presses the button. "Irani."

The Hispanic nearly jumped out his seat. "Y-Yes, sir?"

"How long until we reach the Kobata Sector?"

"A few hours, sir."

"Thank you."

"Y-Yes, sir."

 _Back at the planet._

Shepard found a spot perfect for what he has planned. "Ash, scout ahead." As she went ahead, Shepard walked up to Garrus and Tali. "I want one of you to record us," he says as he opens a box and shows them what is inside.

Garrus makes a remark while smiling, "Ah, Shepard, so you did mean to propose on the Citadel. I'm touched."

Shepard smiles, "No, dumbass, it's for Ash." He didn't need to say it, but he felt like saying it.

"I know. I just felt like saying that. But don't worry, we'll record."

"Thanks." Shepard walks to where Ashley stopped.

Ashley turns her head and sees Shepard walking up. "Shepard, this place is beautiful." He notices that Garrus and Tali are walking in a different direction. "Where are they going?"

"They wanted to scout out a place they saw. Ash, there is something I need to say," he says as he puts the Vindicator on his back. "Back on the Citadel, Anderson asked me if I thought about starting a family. Four years ago, I would have said no, but when he asked me, I said that I would like to start one. He knew who I would like to start one with. Ash, it's you. Ashley Madeline Williams," he says as he kneels on one knee and grabs the box. He opens the box as he continues, "Will you marry me?"

Ashley is on the verged crying while Garrus is recording this with his omni-tool. For Shepard, time seems to have stopped as he waited for her answer. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!" Shepard smiles as he stands and hugs her.

Garrus walks up and says, "That was beautiful, Shepard."

Ashley looks at the Turian, then at Shepard. "I thought you said they went scouting?" she asks as they break up.

Shepard smiles, "I may have lied. I told Garrus to record this."

Tali walks up to Ashley hugs her and says, "Congratulations, Ash."

"Thanks, Tali."

Garrus says to Shepard, "So, I heard that there's an Earth tradition for the man once engaged that involves a party with drinks, possibly some dancers."

"Yeah. It's called a bachelor's party."

Ashley says to Tali. "And while they do that, we can have a girls-only day. In fact, I have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

"As a tradition, the soon-to-be bride can ask friends to be bridesmaids. And I would like you to be the maid of honor, basically the chief bridesmaid. You will be in charge of the dresses and will stand next to me. Would you like to be the maid of honor, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy?"

" _Keelah_! I would be honored, if you would like me to be, Ashley Shepard vas Normandy."

Meanwhile, Garrus and Shepard are talking. "So, Garrus, would you like to be the best man for the honor guard?"

"What does the best man do?"

"You will assist me on the wedding day, keep the rings safe, stand next to me during the ceremony, and plans the bachelor's party."

"Well, since you didn't propose to me, I guess this could be the next best thing," he jokes.

"Oh, come on, Garrus, you're the closest thing I have to a brother. Actually, you are my brother."

"OK. Shepard, I would be honored to be the best man."

At that time, Shepard's omni-tool starts beeping, telling Shepard that there's an incoming vid-call. Shepard brings his hand up and activates it. "Shepard here."

Traynor's face appeared on the holo-screen. _"Shepard, I have good news and not-so-good news."_

"Give me the good news, first."

" _The good news is that there is a ship in orbit."_

"And the not-so-good news?"

" _Well, it may be due to our sensors being damaged, but we can't find a match for the ship's silhouette or it's IFF signal."_

 _On the_ U.S.S. Liberty Omega _._

Rorik walks over to Yolis' station. "Yolis, are we getting anything?"

Yolis looks at him then back at her instruments. "We have been hailing them, but we haven't received anything back. I have scanned the ship multiple times to see if it matches any records but nothing."

"Hmm." He runs his hand over his stubble. He walks to the captain's chair and starts a log. "Captain's log. Stardate: 95365.7512. We have reached Kobali Prime and found both evidence of a wormhole and the source of the distress signal. We have been unable to get a match to the ship's make or signal, and have been unsuccessful in making any kind of contact. I am leaving Commander Dunsworth in command, while Hen-Kel, Giphat, and I go down to the surface and make contact and provide help if needed. End of log," as he ends it, he activates the intercom. "Attention. This is the captain speaking. Hen-Kel and Giphat, report to the shuttle bay. Grab standard phasers and repair kits. Dunsworth out." Yolis walks up to him. "Commander, you have the com."

Yolis salutes. "Yes, sir." Rorik returns the salute and heads to the elevator.

 _At the Normandy._

Shepard, still in his armor, walks up to Traynor. "Have we repaired the sensors?"

"We have…"

"But?"

"We still can't make out an ID. However, I have picked up a signal, that I believe is coming from the ship. It's possible they are trying to make contact." Traynor turns the audio on.

" _(static)This is the…(static)_ Omega _…(static)of the…(static)deration…(static)help?"_

Traynor types fiercely on her terminal. "I'm trying to boost the signal. EDI, a little help?"

EDI replies through the intercom, _"I am doing my best."_

The signal still has static, but the words can be fully heard. _"Repeat, this is the_ U.S.S. Liberty Omega _of the Federation. Do you read us?"_

Shepard tells the coms specialist, "Open the channel."

She types more. "Channel open."

 _In the shuttle bay of the_ Liberty _._

Yolis' voice comes up through the intercom. _"Bridge to Captain Dunsworth."_

Rorik walks over and activates it. "Dunsworth here."

" _Captain, we managed to make contact."_

"Patch it through. Attention, this is Fleet Admiral Rorik Dunsworth of the starship _Liberty_. Can you read me?"

" _Admiral, this is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. We read you but barely. We could use some repairs here."_

"Copy that, Commander. We are about to head out by shuttle to you. Dunsworth out." He walks to the shuttle, climbs in and was warming up the engines, when suddenly…

Red lights filled the room as Yolis' voice comes through the intercom, _"Red alert, red alert. We have hostile ships incoming. Captain, we have incoming Vaadwaur ships. You either have to go now or wait. Wait, hang on… Captain, we have two Vaadwaur Juggernaut ships with several Scout ships incoming on our starboard and portside. I hate to say this, but this Shepard will have to wait."_

Rorik cursed under his breath. "Copy that. We will keep the engines warm so we can fly out when we have the chance. Send a message to Shepard, explaining what's happening."

" _Yes, sir."_

 _On the planet._

Shepard couldn't believe his eyes. In a flash of colors, several squads of aliens had appeared out of thin air. Before he could recover from his shock, his shield took a few hits form their energy weapons. He dove for cover behind, what he thought was a tree, and pulled out his assault rifle. He waited for the flash of blue to tell him that his shield recharged. When it did, he crouched down and pumped three bullets into the nearest one. As the alien went down, the rest seemed shocked. Shepard gave them no time to recover, as he pumped two more burst into another one. The group recovered and began to focus fire on him, causing him to take a few hits then went back in cover. He managed a glimpse, before their fire caused him take cover, and saw that they were grouped together. He reached down to his harness, grabbed a grenade, armed it, and threw it into the group. It exploded in the middle and shrapnel went into bodies and killing them.

Nearby, Ashley and James are pinned down with energy bolts continuously flying past them or into their cover, a giant rock, by different versions of the aliens Shepard just killed, using big, heavy machine guns. Shepard looks through the scope of the Vindicator and takes aim. Just as he started to pull the trigger, an explosion caused him to fly a few feet. Then, as Shepard starts to get up, his shield starts to take hits. Leaving the rifle, Shepard runs to take cover behind a rock. Right as his shield breaks, he manages to get behind the rock and pulls his pistol out. After his shield recharges, he leans out of cover and fires three rounds at the aliens targeting Ashley and James. While it did not kill any of the aliens, the shots were enough to draw part of the group's attention. Shepard fires three more shot, and all three hits the head of one of the aliens and brings it down. With three out of the six aliens keeping their attention to Ashley and Vega, the pair quickly brought down the aliens. Then Vega turned and aimed his modified N7 Valkyrie at one of the two heavies focusing on Shepard, with Ashley aiming her Avenger at the other, and took them down.

Just as Shepard took a step, another explosion hit nearby. As he stabled himself, another explosion hit nearby and caused him to hit his back on the rock. Shepard looked around the corner and saw an alien with, what looked like, a portable cannon. He fired three rounds and they hit some kind of shield then bounced off in different directions. Shepard ran out of cover as the alien launched another energy blast. The blast hit some feet behind him, and he used the force from the explosion to roll forward, grabbed his battle rifle and stood up and squeezed a burst of bullets at the alien. As the bullets hit the alien's body, Shepard wished he had a rifle with more power, as the bullets didn't kill it. As the alien charged for another shot, he heard a familiar rifle shot as soon as the alien's head snapped back. He turned around and saw Garrus reload his Mantis. This area was clear for now, but they were surrounded by the aliens. Shepard prayed to God that Dunsworth was on his way.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys. Such a cliffhanger I know. I wanted to clarify a few things. All the weapons that were in**_ **ME2 _are exactly like the ones from said game, except the_ Pulse Rifle _has the ammo clip size from_ ME3 _and_ _the_ Phalanx _doesn't have the laser sight along with_** ** _all_ Valkyries _being full auto._**


	3. Chapter 2

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online** _ **.**_

 _ **Chapter 2**_

 _In the shuttle,_ Marina _._

Rorik, in his safety harness, was getting thrashed around. They decided to use the Yellowstone class Runabout shuttle to get to the planet. Doing a shuttle run in combat is always risky, but from the last transmission they got from Shepard, Rorik decided to take the risk. Shepard said that they were surrounded and endless waves of Vaadwaur keep coming. Another violent shake brought him back to the present. Right now, they had to get rid of the dozen fighters chasing them. A few minutes ago, they had fourteen chasing but a well-placed shot caused one fighter to take three others with it. Rorik hopes to God that Shepard can hold out.

 _On the planet._

Shepard takes aim with the Vindicator and pumps three slugs into the brains of another alien. A bolt hit his shields from the right, which caused him to seek out his attacker. They started to learn to take cover, but some, like the one Shepard saw, were too slow to learn. He pulls the trigger and a burst takes out an alien. Shepard takes a few more hits, and ducks back into cover. He needed more firepower with a higher rate of fire. Next to him was James and Ashley. "Guys, I need to reach the shuttle bay. Cover me in three… two… one… now!" Shepard runs to the Normandy while they provide covering fire. He managed to reach the bay doors before his shields broke.

Once inside, Shepard dropped the Vindicator and Predator on a table and went to the weapons locker. He grabs the M-96 Mattock heavy rifle, the Phalanx, the N7 Valiant sniper rifle, and the Scimitar. Before he leaves, Shepard makes a quick stop at his armor locker and grabs his Kuwahii Visor and puts it on. He leans against the wall and takes a peak. He needed to get back in the fight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bolt heading his way. He rolls out of the way, in the roll pulls out the Mattock, comes out into a crouched position and double taps two rounds into the head. As the body falls limp, Shepard stands up and runs back to James and Ashley. Ashley looks at his rifle and says, "Really? Out of all the rifles, you pick the old Mattock?"

Shepard started to smile, but then he pushed her down and pumped two bullets into the alien behind her. As she looks behind her, Shepard says, "Sorry, but this old rifle probably just saved your life."

" _Commander!"_ Shepard turns and sees Javik run up to him. The Prothean is using the N7 Eagle auto pistol instead of his usual Particle Rifle, which is on his back. "Commander, I have two sets of information. These things carry shields that my rifle can't seem to break before it overheats. I also got information regarding this Admiral. He is on his way, as soon as he deals with the fighters chasing him."

"Thanks, Javik." Shepard activates his team com. "Listen up, people. We need to hold on until either Admiral Dunsworth reaches us, or the crew gets the Normandy flying. Don't let up."

 _Meanwhile, at the_ Liberty _._

The crew braced for impact as a quantum torpedo hits the starboard shield. This is probably the first time that Yolis is acting in her husband's place in a combat scenario. She had practice in commanding ships in combat and now was the time to put the practice into use. Clifton had given her tips but she never thought she would use them. Another torpedo hit shook her back to the present. She looked at one of the stations. "Damage report."

The ensign looks at her instruments then at the acting-captain. "Starboard shields at 57%. Portside shields at 74%. Stern and aft shields at 98%. Hull integrity at 97%."

"Redirect power to the shields and engine power to weapons."

"Yes, sir."

"Commander," said the comms officer, "A message from _Marina._ They are being chased by fighters and request fire support."

"Copy that. Tell them to fly in front of us and 'danger close.' Torpedo crew, full spread on my mark."

"Message sent."

Yolis waited until the shuttle was within a few clicks and was off to the side. "Fire!" A full spread of quantum torpedoes launched out and the shuttle escaped but not the fighters.

 _In the shuttle._

Rorik was proud of Yolis. Her first combat as acting captain and she was doing great. But now was not the time. With the fighters taken care of, they can finally head to the planet.

 _On the planet._

Shepard blocked the sword using his rifle, and deflected the second and third attacks. On the fourth, he used the rifle to knock the sword to the side, with one hand, and with the other, he activated his omni-blade and stabbed the alien. He then turns and fires a concussive shot at an alien. The round hits the alien but a shield appears and disorients the alien. But then Garrus fires his Mantis and the bullet snaps the head back. Shepard's shield takes a few hits as he takes cover. After it recharges, he pops up, and fires three rounds into a heavy. Shepard ducks back into cover as the heavy returns fire. Shepard hits the side of his gun, ejecting the thermal clip and the gun automatically injects a fresh clip. He grabs one of his three remaining grenades, arms it and throws it at the heavy. It bounces off the ground and explodes into the chest of the heavy. Shepard looks at the information provided by his visor. Two grenades and three clips left in his rifle.

Then his visor informed him that he had a transmission incoming. He accepts it as he pops up, fires a few rounds into an alien, then ducks under cover. He says to the caller, "This is Shepard."

" _Shepard, this is Dunsworth, we see your ship and are preparing to enter the combat zone. Watch your fire."_

"Copy that, Admiral." He cuts the transmission and opens the team channel. "Listen up. The admiral is on his way via shuttle. Watch for it and watch your fire."

 _In the shuttle._

Rorik looks over the pilot's shoulder. He sees the ship and sees only polaron weapons firing. If it wasn't for Vaadwaur soldiers dropping, dirt flying and sparks on rocks, he would have thought that Shepard wasn't really under attack. He looks at the pilot. "Drop the shuttle low enough for a combat drop." The pilot looked as though he had something on his mind. "What's on your mind?"

"Sir, after I drop you off, then what?"

"Land the shuttle somewhere and hang tight."

"Yes, sir."

Shepard heard the sound of engines and looked up to see a shuttle that he has never seen, but looked human. At this point, he can't be picky. He heard movement and a weird looking weapon appeared over him. He quickly stood up, grabbed the alien, pulled it over the cover, pulled out his omni-blade and ran the blade through the head. As he pulled his blade out, a new kind of energy bolt passed him and hit an alien. Then a human with a holographic chest piece ran up to him. Shepard said, "Listen, I don't know where I am, who you are, or what the hell these things are. But right now, I don't care, as long as you help us out." Shepard looked over the cover. A bolt hits the edge of cover and causes him to duck and flinch. He pops up and drills two holes into the alien's head.

The human says, "Fair enough." Within minutes, the aliens seemed to stop appearing. The human taps a badge on his chest and says, "Dunsworth to _Liberty_. What's happening up there?"

A female voice speaks, _"Captain, the Vaadwaur are retreating but we took a bit of damage. We will contact Starfleet Command for reinforcements."_

"Good idea, they might attack with a fleet, next time. Dunsworth out."

Shepard aimed his gun at the human. "Who the hell are you? I know you aren't Alliance."

Then three more aliens flanked the human and aimed their guns at Shepard. The female looking one with antennae says to Shepard, "Drop the gun or you will be fired upon."

Then Shepard's crew surrounds them, with James saying, "You're surrounded. Drop your weapons."

The human looked at the female alien. "Mirra, we are here to help. Lower your weapons."

She started to protest, "But, sir…"

"Lower your gun, that's an order."

She looks at him then sighs. "Yes, sir." She lowers her weapon and the other two aliens do the same.

The human looks at Shepard. "It seems like there is a misunderstanding."

Shepard replies, "That's putting it mildly."

"I guess we both have questions. I am Fleet Admiral Rorik Dunsworth, captain of the _U.S.S. Liberty Omega_."

Shepard studies the man. He passes looks with the other and lowers his gun. "There hasn't been a U.S.S. ship since the Systems Alliance has formed. Who are you, really?"

"I don't know what this 'Systems Alliance' is."

Shepard reads the readings of the man provided by the visor. Two lungs, one heart, one set of intestines, two kidneys, one liver. He is, for all intents and purposes, human. Pulse rate normal, he seems to be telling the truth. But Shepard has heard that there are people that can make it seem like they're telling the truth but are lying. He also can't seem to get a read on the three aliens behind the man. "I will ask you again. Who the hell are you?"

"I am Fleet Admiral Rorik Dunsworth, captain of the _U.S.S. Liberty Omega_. I came in response to your distress signal. I'm here to help."

Shepard walks closer to him. "You say that you're here to help, but the last time I met someone who claimed to want to help was a lying heartless bastard who I killed because he was a selfish power-hungry bastard. So please excuse me for not taking your word."

The man did not move an inch but calmly replied with, "I understand, but if a friendly fleet doesn't arrive soon, we will be in big trouble. Those aliens you killed, more are likely coming. Now you can either trust us, or fight them alone."

"Fine, but we'll be watching you. Everyone stand down." As his squad lowers their guns, Shepard continues, "If you betray us…"

The man finishes, "You will open fire. I trained as a tactical officer. Don't worry. My shields don't stop projectiles."

"Be that as it may, I will still not trust you."

"I understand. Now with your permission, I would like to help repair your ship, if needed."

Shepard studied the man. "Fine." He leads the way to the ship.

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. I know it was, 'Hey, if you help me I'll trust you,' then 'Who are you, I heard Starfleet and I don't trust you anymore'. But the last time Shepard trusted a group who wanted to help, like Cerberus, they proved to be worse than they seemed._ _I almost always have him use the default armor, so be on the look out for returning default armors._**

 ** _*Hint, hint. Look at the picture of this story. Hint, hint.*_**


	4. Chapter 3

_**I do not own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star** **Trek** **Online**

 _ **Chapter 3**_

 _In the Normandy's captain's quarters._

Shepard, still in his Hahne-Kedar armor, read the damage report. Almost everything had overloaded. If Dunsworth was right, and more are coming, then they needed the Normandy ready to fly. Shepard had them focus on the engines, shields, and weapons. Weapons were secondary, but the engines and shield were the primary focus. From the recent report, shields and weapons are finished, but the drive core is taking the longest. Apparently, these people have never seen a Mass Effect core, before. Shepard begins to wonder where they were.

Ashley walks up to him, in her S1 armor. "Shep-John, we need to talk about something."

He drops the report on his desk. "What's up, Ash?"

"Do… do you think we're still in the Milky Way?"

"Ash… I don't know. But wherever we are," he walks up to her and holds her hands, "as long as you're with me, I don't really care."

She blushes, "I… damn, Shepard, you know how to make being stranded sound romantic." Her hands go up his arms. "I love you, hero man."

He smiles as a hand goes to the side of her face. "I love you too, soon-to-be Mrs. Shepard." She smiles and they start to kiss.

Then EDI's voice comes over the intercom. _"Commander Shepard."_

They stop as Shepard looks up. "What is it, EDI?"

" _Did I interrupt something?"_

"Yeah, kind of. What is it?"

" _Shepard, we have a transmission from the_ Liberty _. The acting-captain want to talk to you."_

"Thanks, I'll take it in here."

" _I'll patch it through to your screen."_

Shepard walks over to his personal terminal. After interacting with it, his display case for his ship models darkened. Then a female's face, with weird looking tattoos down the sides of her head and neck, appeared on the screen. She asks, _"I respectfully request to talk to Commander Shepard."_

"This is Commander Shepard. Who am I speaking to, if I may ask?"

" _Ah, Commander. This is First Officer Commander Yolis Dunsworth."_

"Dunsworth? Like Admiral Dunsworth?"

" _Yes. He is my husband. I understand that you don't trust us."_

"No offense, ma'am, but I don't. The last time I trusted a group, I ended up destroying a system without warning anyone."

" _I understand, Commander. There have been a few times that we have, as you say, been blind-sided. I would like to put that aside for now. Our sensors have detected more enemy ships on their way."_

"What were those things?"

" _We call them Vaadwaur, Commander. A friendly fleet is on its way to us, but unless we leave soon we will be overrun."_

"Understood. I will watch over your people. Shepard out." He ends the vidcom. He stands there, deep in thought.

Ashley walks up to him. "Do you think we can trust them?"

Shepard turns his head towards her. "Ash, I don't know. I hope so because we are somewhere that has never heard of Mass Effect technology. But I trusted Dr. Kenson and I ended up drugged as the Reapers were on their way. I tried to warn the batarians but she blocked comms. And as a result, hundreds of thousands died without a warning. It still haunts me." Ashley hugs him. "Thanks. But we need to hurry with the repairs."

As he tries to go, Ashley keeps a hold on him. "John, I have something to give you. Back before the battle for Earth, Hackett gave me something that belonged to you. I didn't have a chance before. But now we have time. Follow me." She leads the way to the elevator.

 _Deck 3: crew quarters_

Once off the elevator, Ashley led Shepard to the starboard observation deck. Once in the room, Shepard's eyes immediately went to an old friend. He walks up to the N7 armor he used in his fight against the Collectors, the one he wore when he went to Horizon when the Collectors attacked, complete with a matching helmet. He looks at Ashley and smiles. "Hackett kept my old armor?"

"Wait. This is the same armor?"

"Yeah, I can tell you how I received each and every scratch and dent." He walked to the back. He points at the 'hump' on the back, which had a big dent on it. "Yeah, I got this dent at the Collector base. A metal bar had fallen on my back." He looks at her. "How did you get it?"

"Back when we rendezvoused with the fleets, Hackett brought it over. He meant to give it to you, but when he remembered he brought it onto the Normandy, we were on Earth."

Shepard walked up to her and hugged her. "Ash, thank you. I would have used this armor during the war with the Reapers, but I'm glad I didn't. The newer one probably saved my life back on Earth. Thank you."

She smiled. "Well, consider it a wedding present, if you want."

They then heard someone clear his throat. They looked and saw Garrus standing there. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Shepard walks up to his brother. "No, not at all. How's the repairs?"

"Well, for complete repairs, she needs drydock. But we are almost able to make the ship limp able. But, honestly, I don't see how we can fully repair the core. These people have a completely different kind of drive core, according to them."

"Yeah. I've heard. What do you think, Garrus? Can we trust these people?"

"I think so, Shepard. It's too bad we don't have Chambers anymore. We could have used a phycologist. But for the most part, my visor says they are telling the truth."

"Yeah, so did mine."

" _Yo, Loco."_ They all turned and saw James walking up with Dunsworth. "This guy has something to ask."

Dunsworth walked up to Shepard. "Commander Shepard, I respectfully request that I bring some more engineers down, to help. I thought that I needed just two, but I'm wrong. Your technology is different from ours and I need the extra hands."

Shepard looked at Garrus, Ashley, and James, then back at Dunsworth. "I am going to trust you."

"Don't worry. I won't betray your trust." He touches his badge. "Dunsworth to _Liberty_. Send down a team of engineers. No phasers."

Then a female voice came back. _"Yes, sir. Engineers and no weapons._ Liberty _out."_

Dunsworth looked at Shepard. "My people are transporting in. It will look like they are appearing out of thin air."

Shepard nods as he activates his comms. "Shepard to patrol. The admiral has people teleporting in. Keep a look out for them."

Javik's voice comes back through the comms. _"Copy that, Commander. Wait… We see them. We are coming to you."_

"Copy that, Javik. We'll meet you in the shuttle bay."

 _In the shuttle bay on the Normandy._

The group of five got out of the cramped elevator and saw a group of six walk up the bay door. Rorik saw, behind the two aliens, Yolis. He ran up to her. "Commander, what are you doing here?" Then a voiced cleared behind him. He turned around and saw Shepard waiting patiently. "My apologies. Yolis, meet Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy. Commander Shepard, meet my wife, First Officer Commander Yolis Dunsworth."

Shepard walks up and offers a hand. "Nice to meet you in person, Commander Dunsworth."

"Same to you, Commander Shepard," she says as she shakes his hand. "Thank you for trusting us and allowing us on your ship."

Rorik asks, "Yolis, what are you doing here?"

"Don't worry. I left E'Zmon in charge. I've talked to Commander Shepard and came to see if I can help with both repairing this ship and building trust."

Then the one called Garrus walks up to Shepard. "Shepard, I hate to do this but can we have the pleasantries later? Don't forget more are coming."

Shepard nods and turns his head to Rorik. "He's right, Admiral. I hate to rush you but we need our core able to take us into FTL." He looks at the two aliens. "Javik, Liara, you can go back on patrol." As they leave, Shepard looks at Yolis. "If you would follow me, I will take you to the core." They head to the elevator.

 _A thirty minutes later, in the captain's quarters._

Shepard has learned some of the history of Starfleet and the Federation. Apparently, the Normandy was still in the Milky Way, but not the one they knew. He was in his restroom in his quarters, and looked at the broken mirror. The ever-present scars were still there but he has healed the rest of the injuries. Chakwas told him that he had fully recovered and was fit for full duty. There was a knock on the door to his quarters. "It's open."

He heard the door open, and someone walked in. Then he heard Ashley's voice. _"John. We need to talk."_

He sighed for he knew this was coming. He walked out of the restroom and almost into Ashley. "Sorry. What's on your mind?" She didn't say anything, she just stared at the N7 armor in the corner. Shepard meant to put the armor on but never got around to it. He grabbed Ashley's hands which kinda startled her. "Ash. I think I know. We might be in the Milky Way, but not ours. We will find a way back. Then, we will have the wedding." He puts a hand on the side of her face and he saw tears falling. "Ash, I promise no matter how long it takes, we will get back."

She smiles. "That's what I needed to hear. Thank you." They get close for a kiss. Then there is a knock on the door.

Shepard sighs as they break apart. "Ah, come on. This is the second time today," he says as she smiles. He walks over to the door. He opens it and finds Liara almost panting. "Liara, what's wrong."

"Shepard, we're under attack!"

"Go, defend the ship. I'll be out there in a bit." She nods and walks into the elevator as Ashley joins her. Shepard walks up to his N7 armor and takes the current one off.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys. I hope you are doing well and better than Shepard. He got c**kblocked twice in one day. LOL. To me it seems like it should take the engine longer to fix, due to two different drive core technologies. I know that Shepard doesn't have to have the**_ **ME2** _ **N7 armor, but that armor got him through the Collector base. That 'hump' I said, is where the heavy weapons went in**_ **ME2 _, for reference_** _ **. I liked the idea that the armor got beat up as Shepard used it because it been shot at, hit with explosives and what happened before the end run after the battle with the Human Reaper Larvae on the Suicide Mission. I hope you continue to enjoy this story. I have been told, and I agree with it, that this story has potential.**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**I do not own**_ **Mass** **Effect** _ **or**_ **Star** **Trek** **Online**

 _Chapter 4_

 _In_ _orbit_ _around_ _Kobali_ _Prime._

E'Mzon, or E'Zmon as the captain calls him, sat in the captain's chair. He wondered what is taking the captain so long. Then the Reman got pulled back to the present when the young Hispanic turned in his chair. "Commander, we have more Vaadwaur ships incoming."

E'Mzon pressed a button and alarms blared. He turns on the intercom. "Attention. This is Commander E'Mzon speaking, attention. We have more Vaadwaur ships incoming. All hands, man your battle stations." He turns the intercom off. Then E'Mzon looked at the comms officer. "Send a message to the fleet and the captain. Tell them we are under attack." As he looked back at the view screen, dozens of Vaadwaur ships exits warp.

 _In the engineering deck on the Normandy._

Rorik was no engineer so he just did what others told him. He was cramped inside of a service tunnel. His combadge beeped. He touched it. "Dunsworth here."

A female voice came from it. _"Captain, Vaadwaur ships have exited warp. We will try to hold them off as best we can."_

"Copy that, Dunsworth out." He kills the channel.

Next to him, a human called Adams turned to him. "We have more enemies to worry about?"

"Yes, we need to hurry. I'm a tactical officer, not an engineer. I would be more useful defending your ship."

Adams activated his portable computer, an omni-tool they call it. "Commander Shepard."

" _This is Shepard. Go ahead."_

"This is Adams. Admiral Dunsworth said that he would be more useful defending the ship."

" _Admiral, can you hear me?"_

Rorik walks closer to Adams. "I'm here, Commander."

" _Admiral if you say that you are more useful in combat, then grab your weapon and head to the shuttle bay. We need all the help we can get."_

"Understood. I'm heading there now. Dunsworth out." He slowly makes his way out of the tunnel. When he was out, he stands up and drops the repair equipment he was carrying. He heads out to the elevator.

 _In the shuttle bay on the Normandy._

Shepard unlocks the weapon's locker. He had time to change into his old N7 armor and the helmet. He decided to grab some firepower. He grabs the M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun, the M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon, the M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, and the M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle. As he puts in fresh clips in his guns, James walked over in his heavy N7 armor with the N7 Valkyrie, with a scope attached to it, and the N7 Crusader. "So, Loco. Do you really think they can get the ship ready? I mean, they don't know anything about our systems."

"I know. That is why I paired each person with one of ours. But right now, we have to keep these Vaadwaur at bay."

" _Shepard."_ They look and see Garrus and Ashley. Garrus spoke. "Shepard, request permission to get on the top of the ship for sniping."

"Granted." He looks at James. "Let's move out." While Garrus and Ashley headed to the elevator, both Dunsworths came out and walked up to Shepard.

The admiral asked, "Where do you want us?"

Shepard pointed at the bay door. "Flank the door." The admiral nodded as Shepard and James flanked on one side while the Dunsworths flanked the other. As the door opened, energy bolts zipped by them. Shepard checked his HUD to make sure that his assault rifle was loaded, then rushed to a nearby rock and used it for cover. He crouched down and popped out to the side. He aimed at the nearest alien and fired a four-round burst. The bullets hit the Vaadwaur in the chest and down it went. He aimed at the next one but was forced into cover before he could pull the trigger. He loads a concussive round into his rifle, stuck it out and fired. The round auto locked onto the alien, hit its shields and staggered it. He pops out of cover again and quickly aims and fires more rounds at the aliens. He goes back to cover to wait for his shields to recharge. He peeks out and sees a heavy with a cannon. He puts his Revenant up and grabs the Widow. He peeks out to confirm the position of the heavy. He activates his optical synapsis, pops out of cover and rests the crosshair of the scope on the head. He pulls the trigger and, after the delay, the rifle bucks from the pure power from the round. As he returns to cover, he watches as the head snaps back with enough force to cause the legs to fly out from under it. As time returns to normal, he pulls the bolt back which causes the heated clip to eject and a new one loads in.

Rorik watches with shock and awe, as Shepard acts with incredible speed. He has never seen anyone, including Augments, move that fast. He looks at his wife, who is just as amazed. He quickly recovers as a polaron bolt hits his shields. He returns fire with his phaser auto rifle. He then runs out and dives for cover behind a rock. He leans out and fires a few bolts at one of the Vaadwaur. The bolts hit its shields as Rorik fires another burst. This burst drops its shields as another, from Yolis, takes it down. As he leaned back into cover, a polaron explosion hit near him and drops his shields. Then a human, with big heavy armor with a 'N7' on his chest piece and a red line down one of the arms, ran over to him. "Admiral, you okay?"

"I'm good. My shields just dropped." He looks over the rock and saw two more squads transporting in. "Shit, more Vaadwaur." He touches his combadge. "Dunsworth to _Liberty_ , come in."

E'Mzon's voice came through with sounds of battle and an alarm. _"E'Mzon here, captain. Good to hear your voice."_

"Same here, E'Zmon. There has to be ships that are just sending down Vaadwaur. They might be cloaked."

" _Copy that, captain. We will keep a lookout, but we outnumbered, as always. The fleet should be arriving soon. We will try to hold out. E'mzon out."_

The human, James if Rorik remembers correctly, looked at him. "Didn't he say that his name is 'E'Mzon'?"

"Yeah, well, I have always called him 'E'Zmon' and after a while, he just accepted it." He looks over the rock. A bolt caused him to duck. "Damn it." He pops up and fires a few bolts back.

As he ducks back under, Rorik sees James touching a side of his helmet. "Copy that, Commander." James looks at Rorik. "Our engines are as ready as they can be right now. Head back to the Normandy. I'll cover you," he finishes as he pulls his gun, which also has a 'N7' on it, over the rock and fires a few rounds. Rorik runs to the bay as his shields take a few hits.

However, before he made it fully in the bay, his shields break and he takes a polaron bolt to the side of his leg. The hit caused him to trip and fall. He heard Yolis cry out, _"Clifton!"_

As he stands up, he sees his wife running to him from behind a rock. But when she gets to a few feet from the ramp, her shields break and she get hit on the side of her abdomen. "Yolis!"

Shepard runs up to him. "Get her." He looks at his squad. "Cover fire!"

Rorik runs as best as he can to her. When he reaches her, he slings one of her arms around neck, as he runs back. When he gets in the bay, the ramp closes as he sets her down on a chair. Behind him, Shepard says, "Joker, get us out of here and send Chakwas to the shuttle bay."

Over the intercom, this 'Joker' replies, _"Roger that, Shepard,"_ as Rorik feels the ship taking off.

Shepard walks to the elevator and takes it up to the CIC.

 _In the Normandy's cockpit._

Shepard runs to Joker. Joker looks at him then back to his controls as he says, "Commander, there is a big shitstorm going on up there."

Shepard calmly says, "Open a channel to the _Liberty_."

"Aye aye, sir. Channel open."

"Attention, _U.S.S. Liberty_. This is Shepard. We are on our way out of the planet's atmo. How copy?"

A male voice came back. _"Normandy, this is the_ Liberty _. We copy but suggest you hurry. It's a shitstorm."_

Joker says to Shepard, "See, what did I say?"

"Copy that. Get yourself out of there."

" _Can't do that until you get out."_

"Copy that. Prepare to go to FTL and give us some coordinates where we can rendezvous."

" _Copy. Incoming coordinates. We suggest you… shit. We have a Juggernaut incoming. Hurry and get to the coordinates. We will be late._ Liberty _out."_

Joker turns his head to Shepard. "We have the coordinates. Orders?"

"EDI, can you identify this Juggernaut?"

Her voice comes through the intercom. _"Yes, Shepard. I have found the ship."_

"Joker, let's test the main gun, see if it works."

"Aye aye." Joker pilots the Normandy into position. After a few minutes, Joker says, "We are within range."

"Fire!" It takes a bit for the cannons to charge up, but when it fires, a giant blue-white beam heads towards the ship.

 _On the_ Liberty _._

E'Mzon thought to himself, _'This is not good. Shields are getting low, and we have a Juggernaut about to open fire.'_

One of the Vulcans on the bridge spoke up. "Sir, the Normandy is opening fire on the Juggernaut."

"Put it on the main screen."

"Yes, sir." The viewscreen shows the Normandy firing a giant beam towards the Vaadwaur ship. The beam hits the port side shields and breaks it. Then the Normandy fires a second beam, which goes through the ship and hits the starboard shields.

E'Mzon stares in disbelief as he watches the Juggernaut explodes. But he quickly recovered and said to the navigation officer, "Get us out of here."

"Yes, sir." The screen shows the Normandy going into FTL. A minute later, the _Liberty_ goes to warp.

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. Ever since I received E'Mzon I have always called him E'Zmon. Also to me it seems reasonable that the main cannon on the Normandy could be able to destroy a_ STO _ship. After all anti-ship turrets could barely scratch the Collector ship, but two hits from the cannon and scratch one Collector ship. In fact since the Collectors were agents of the Reapers, and it took a virus and an entire fleet to kill Sovereign, so why wouldn't the Collectors have very advanced tech. The main cannons of the Normandy are based on the weapon technology recovered from Sovereign. So it makes since that one sot from the main cannon can take out a ship from_ STO _. Also if you don't get the 'I'm a _, not a _,' then what the hell is wrong with you. JK. If you don't, it's based off of Doctor Leonard 'Bones' McCoy's almost famous, if not famous, line: 'I'm a doctor, not a _!' I wasn't planning it, it just happened. I don't have internet at my house, so sorry it took me so long to update this._**


	6. Chapter 5

_**I do not own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 5_

 _In the shuttle bay on the Normandy._

Rorik watched as the Normandy's doctor, Chakwas he heard other called her, looked over Yolis. Since they were not from here, Chakwas was doing her best, which was good by Starfleet's standards. Rorik limped up to them and asked, "How is she?"

The doctor looks at him and replies, "She is fine, as far as I can tell." She looks at Yolis. "You may look like it but you aren't human so if you aren't fine, just say so."

The Trill smiles. "I'm fine, Doctor, thank you. I have to say. With no knowledge about the Trill physiology, you did some fine work."

"Thank you, Commander. Although, I did find a second set of vitals. Is that common for you?"

Rorik thought he heard wrong. "Wait, what did you say, doc?"

"I said I found a second set of vitals. I take it that it's not common?"

Rorik asked Yolis, "Did you become a host for a symbiote?"

Yolis looks like she is trying not to smile. "No. No symbiote, Clifton."

"If you don't have a symbiote, then why…" Then he realized why she looks like she is trying not to smile. "Yolis, you're…"

She smiles as she says, "Pregnant."

Rorik starts beaming as he limps over to his wife and hugs her. He starts crying tears of joy as he asks, "How far along?"

"A few weeks. I meant to tell you sooner but you know how it is on ships."

He puts his head on hers, her short dark brown hair getting in his eyes. "I love you." She smiles as she puts her head on his shoulder, running her hands through his brown hair messing up his hair-style. She then starts giggling. He asks, "What? What's so funny?"

"Clifton, your stubble tickles." As they move their heads apart and look into each other's eyes, they both smile. "I love you too." They share a brief kiss.

Behind him, Rorik hears Chakwas clearing her throat. _"I hate to interrupt this, but I need to check on your leg, Admiral."_

They break up and as Rorik sits down, he says, "Sorry, doc. Go ahead, I'm human."

As Chakwas kneels in front of him, she says, "Thank you. This won't take long."

 _On the engineering deck._

Shepard, now in his N7 T-shirt with Alliance pants, walks over to Adams. "Adams, how is she?"

Adams stops working on the console and looks at Shepard. "Well, if we can get the coordinates to Earth, we can use one last FTL jump."

"Are you saying your repairs will only last for one more jump?"

"Yes. We don't have the equipment to do any major repairs, but we can go into FTL one more time before we need to make another jury rig."

"Thanks. See what you can do."

Adams salutes. "Aye aye, Commander." He goes back to the console.

Shepard walks to the elevator just as Joker talked over the intercom. _"Commander, I have an incoming transmission. Not from the_ Liberty _, but the signal is similar. You might want to come to the bridge."_

"Copy that, Joker. I'm on my way." As the doors to the elevator open, both Dunsworths are in it. As Shepard got in, he said to them, "Admiral, we have a transmission incoming with a signal similar to your ship."

He replied, "Must be the fleet."

 _In the CIC._

The three walks up and stand behind Joker, as Shepard says, "Open the channel."

Joker inputs a command. "Channel open."

Shepard nods and says, "This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2. Hold your fire. I have with me, Fleet Admiral Dunsworth." He looks to the admiral.

And he picks right up. "Attention, Federation fleet. This is Fleet Admiral Clifton 'Rorik' Dunsworth."

A male voice replies back. _"Admiral Dunsworth, this is Admiral Quinn. Good to hear your voice, son."_

"Same here, sir. I have some explaining to do. Has the _Liberty_ come out of warp yet?"

" _Captain, the_ Liberty _is here."_

"Commander E'Zmon. Glad you could make it out. Admiral, I am onboard a friendly ship. Without, Commander Shepard and his ship, we wouldn't have made it out of there. I request permission to give them the coordinates to Earth."

" _Hmm. Permission granted. However, we will watch the ship and the crew."_

Shepard speaks up. "Admiral, this is Shepard. I understand and the Normandy needs repairs. We can only do one more FTL jump. After we get to Earth, we need to land, or dock, or whatever where your HQ is."

" _Understood. Commander Shepard, sending coordinates."_

Joker checks his console then turns his head to Shepard. "Shepard, you're not going to believe this. We already had the coordinates. They are the same as ours."

EDI, in the copilot's seat, pipes up. "Jeff, if you think about it, it would make sense. We are still in the Milky Way, so Earth should still be in the same location."

Joker replies, "Thanks, EDI. You just ruined my small chance for joy."

Shepard interrupts. "Joker, EDI, not now, please. Admiral, we are ready to head to Earth."

" _Copy that, Commander. I've sent a message to the_ ESD _, they are prepping a docking port for you. You may go into warp, now."_

Shepard was confused and it showed. So Dunsworth speaks up. "Commander, we have a space station called the _ESD_ , Earth Space Dock. When we use our drive core, we go into what we call warp." He speaks to the other admiral. "Sir, we have a problem that requires an explanation."

" _Copy that, son. As you humans say, Godspeed. Quinn out."_ The channel closes.

Shepard looks at Joker. "Joker, take us there."

Dunsworth spoke up. "Commander, we can't just travel to Earth straight from here."

Shepard looks at him. "Why not?"

"Earth is basically on the other side of the galaxy. Normally, it would take almost a century for us to get this far. But there is a gateway that allows us to get here and back." He touches his badge. "Dunsworth to _Liberty_."

" _Liberty here."_

"E'zmon, I would like you to tow the Normandy to the Jenolan Dyson Sphere."

" _Copy that. Engaging tractor beam."_

Shepard asks, "Dyson Sphere?"

Dunsworth puts a hand on his chin. "It's a lot easier to explain when you see it in person." Just then, the ship shook. "That didn't sound good." He touches his badge again. "E'Zmon, what the hell was that?"

" _Apologies, sir. I think they have shields up. That and we have never towed a ship like this."_

Shepard looks at EDI. "EDI, lower the barriers."

"At once, Shepard. They are down."

Dunsworth nods. "Try now." The ship didn't shake as bad. "Report."

" _Captain, we have the Normandy in tow. We are adjusting our warp field to enable the Normandy to follow."_ After a few minutes, E'Mzon says, _"Captain, we believe that Normandy can follow. To be sure, we are going to start at warp 1 and increase from there. If we start to lose you, we will stop and adjust it more."_

"Copy that. Stand by." He looks at Shepard. "Commander Shepard. This is your ship. We won't move unless you say."

Shepard looks at Joker and EDI, who both nod, then at Dunsworth. "Start out slow."

Dunsworth nods as he says, "Copy that. E'Zmon. Ahead warp factor 1."

" _Yes sir."_ The Normandy starts to get pulled. After half an hour, the _Liberty_ was pulling the Normandy at warp factor 5. It took almost a day before the two ships, now traveling at warp 9.97, to reach the cluster that had the Jenolan Dyson Sphere.

 _In the captain's quarters on the Normandy._

Shepard, in his underwear, was sleeping in his bed. Ashley was curled up beside him, on his left arm her left arm on his chest. _Shepard stood in darkness. In front of him, almost like a movie, showed him parts of what happened during the search for the Conduit. The geth and beacon from Eden Prime, the Thorian from Feros, the Rachni Queen from Noveria, watching the nuclear explosion from orbit over Virmire, Ilos and the run to the Conduit, and fighting Saren and the reanimated corpse controlled by Sovereign on the Citadel. It finished with a Reaper flying at him._

Shepard awoke with a jolt. He sat up and saw Ashley sitting up, covered with the blanket, and watched him. As he calmed himself down, Ashley asked, "Bad dreams?"

"Yeah. I watched our search for the Conduit, almost like a movie. It ended when a Reaper, Sovereign probably, flew at me." He put a hand on his face and laid down.

Ashley laid her head on his chest and said, "John, I… I don't know what to say."

Shepard wrapped his arm around her and said, "I know. But you just being here helps me. I love you, Ash."

"I love you too, John."

They had a minute of silence and cuddling, before Joker came on the intercom. _"Bridge to Commander Shepard and Admiral Dunsworth. I have an incoming transmission from the_ Liberty

Ashley says, "You might want to get to the bridge. Go, I'll be there later."

 _At the same time, in the starboard observation on deck three of the Normandy._

Shepard had let him and Yolis use this room to sleep while they were onboard but Rorik was having trouble sleeping. Usually, he couldn't sleep when the _Liberty_ was on its way to an important mission, or to a battle, but this time, he was too excited, and a little depressed, to sleep. In his arms were the two most important living beings to him. Yolis stirred in his arms, his wife and the mother of their child, slightly shifting but was still asleep. His thoughts kept going between when he proposed to her and when he was nine. It was twenty-five, almost twenty-six, years ago but he could tell it with somewhat vivid details.

 _It was a clear and bright day on the small mining colony, Paradox. Clifton had just turned nine and his dad, Jenson, had a surprise for him. Unfortunately, Clifton never got to know what it was. He was out playing with his friends when a Klingon raiding party descended on the colony. Out of the sixty-six colonists, including the children, only Clifton survived. He came out of hiding just in time to watch his dad die in his arms. Alone, he repaired the communication stations just enough to send an SOS using the old Morse code out on Federation channels. The next day, the_ U.S.S. Trailblazer _made it to the remains of the colony. After a team beamed down, one of the crew walked up to him, a human called Roy Smith. Clifton was huddled up in a corner of the remains of his home, crying. Smith kneeled next to him asking, "Are you okay, son?" Clifton didn't stop crying. "What's your name?" He still cried. "Okay, I'll go first. My name is Roy Smith. What is your name?"_

 _Clifton, still crying, managed to get out, "Cl-Clifton Frederick Dunsworth."_

 _The dark-skinned man asked, "How old are you?"_

" _N-Nine."_

" _Clifton, are you alright?"_

 _In-between his sobs, he replied, "N-No. I held my daddy as he died."_

" _Oh, God. Listen, is there anyone else alive?"_

" _N-No. I'm the only one left."_

 _As Smith started to reach a hand out, another Starfleet officer came up and said, "Ensign Smith, what are you doing?"_

 _Smith stood up and replied, "Lieutenant Joyes. Sir, he is only nine years old. He watched as his father died in his arms, sir. Sir, I request permission to bring him with us back to Earth."_

 _The other man looked at Smith, then Clifton, then back at Smith. "Fine. Permission granted." Smith saluted as he walked off._

 _Then Smith kneeled down next to Clifton again. "Hey, come with me," he says as he holds out his hand. "Please." Clifton slowly grab the man's hand and stood up. They walked out of the only home Clifton knew of and into a clearing. Smith touched, with his other hand, his badge and said, "_ U.S.S Trailblazer _, this is Ensign Smith. I have a nine-year-old kid with me. Two to beam up, please." After they left orbit, Smith escorted Clifton to a quest quarters. Once inside the room, Smith told Clifton, "Hey, Clifton. I need to go and search for any relatives that you may have. Okay?"_

 _But Clifton hugged the man's waist and sobbed out, "No. Don't leave me."_

 _Smith kneeled to be eye-level with him. "Hey, I have to find you a new home, okay?"_

" _But you'll be back, right?"_

" _Yeah, of course I will." A few minutes later. Smith opens the door and is met with another hug. He kneels down and hugs Clifton back, while saying, "See? I told you I'll be back."_

 _Clifton manages to sob out, "I… I saw it all."_

" _Oh, God. I-I'm so sorry, Rorik."_

" _What? What did you call me?"_

" _Oh, sorry. I meant to say 'Frederick' but 'Rorik' came out instead."_

" _I like it. Thank you, Mr. Smith."_

" _You can call me 'Roy', Rorik."_

 _But after the ship got to Earth, that was the last time Clifton saw Roy. He got sent to an aunt and uncle, who made it their mission to tell Clifton, in any way possible, that they wished that he died along with the colony. Clifton began to go by Rorik, as his mother was a Starfleet captain who he had never met, and enlisted at the Starfleet Academy at the age of 15, he lied about his age to gain entry._

Some slight movement brought him back to the present. He looked down and saw that Yolis was still asleep. He smiled to himself as he thought about what was in his arms. A family, _his_ family. Just as he started to fall asleep, a voice came on the intercom. _"Bridge to Commander Shepard and Admiral Dunsworth. I have an incoming transmission from the_ Liberty _."_ It also woke his wife up.

Rorik smiles as she picks her head up and looks at him. She asks, "Morning. What are you smiling about?"

"About how nappy your hair is right now. I hate to be rude but I was called to the bridge of this ship." As she lets him get up, she tries to fix her hair and is somewhat successful. Rorik then heads to the elevator.

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. I before you say anything, I did kinda based Rorik's background off of the colonist background from_ Mass Effect _. Also cross-species reproduction is possible because the famous Spock is half-Vulcan and half-human. To help me sleep at times I would run stories through my head and the effort would help me sleep. Some of the stories involved one, sometimes two kids from Rorik and Yolis. Also about his past, I made Rorik back when the latest expansion was_ Legacy of Romulis _, but I only made the background only a few years ago._** **_The_ Liberty Omega _on full throttle can reach transwarp 12.34 but I don't think the Normandy can take it properly without a relay to jumpstart the core._**


	7. Chapter 6

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 6_

 _In the cockpit of the Normandy._

Rorik was standing there waiting for Shepard. After a few minutes, Shepard arrived in a T-shirt with N7 on the chest and a red stripe down the right sleeve. Walking up, Shepard said, "Joker open the channel."

Joker types on his console. "Channel open."

Shepard says, "This is Commander Shepard."

Rorik adds, "And Admiral Dunsworth."

E'Mzon came through. _"Captains, we are approaching the Jenolan Dyson Sphere."_

Rorik replied, "Copy that, Commander. Prepare to switch over to sublight engines."

" _Copy that, Captain. Switching to sublight in three… two… one… disengaging warp drive."_ Looking through the windows, they saw the giant shape of the Jenolan Dyson Sphere.

Walking closer to a window, Rorik points at it and looks at Shepard. "Commander Shepard, welcome to the Jenolan Dyson Sphere. If you think it's impressive now, just wait until we are inside. Commander E'Zmon, take us in."

" _Copy that, Captain. Helmsman, take us in."_

As they got closer, a hatch on the Sphere opened and when both ships went through, the crew of the Normandy was met with an incredible, almost unbelievable, sight. Shepard looked through the window and he remembered when he first saw the Citadel, however this put the Citadel to shame. In the middle of the sphere was a star and the inside of the sphere was almost like a planet. He looked at Dunsworth. "This… this is amazing. How did you build this?"

Dunsworth smiles. "Hate to say it but we didn't. These spheres were built by a race slaved to a more powerful species with incredibly advance tech."

Shepard mumbles, "Something similar to Reapers, I bet."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Back at our galaxy, our tech is based off of Mass Effect technology. All the races found the tech in their own way, but it was all created by advanced hybrid-synthetic machines called Reapers. The Reapers would, every 50000 years, begin a galaxy-wide extinction of all advance races. We came from a war with the Reapers. I took a blast from Harbinger, the first Reaper and barely managed to fire a weapon, called the Crucible, before I passed out. Then I woke up on the planet we came from. At least I think I fired it."

Joker spoke up. "Oh yeah. Hey, Commander, you did fire the weapon. Whether it worked or not, we have to head back."

"Thanks, Joker."

Dunsworth touches his badge. "Dunsworth to _Liberty_."

"Liberty _here."_

"Take us through the gateway. We have sectioned off the galaxy into four quadrants. We are currently in what we call the Delta Quadrant, however most of it is unexplored. What we are about to enter is what we call the Beta Quadrant. Earth is where the Alpha and Beta Quadrants meet. In the Beta Quadrant there are three main factions: The United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Republic. Starfleet is part of the Federation, and we are on good terms with the Romulans and not-so-good terms with the Klingons. While we do have a somewhat stable alliance with the Klingon Empire, there are the occasional… raids." Dunsworth zones out. Shepard started to say something but decided not to. Then Dunsworth's badge starts to make noise. Dunsworth touches it. "Dunsworth here."

" _Captain, we are prepared to go through the gateway. Awaiting your word."_

"Commander, take us through, slowly. We don't know how well the Normandy can handle it."

" _Copy that, Captain."_

As the two ships approached the almost circular-shaped object, Rorik said, "Commander, it might feel weird." Then he thought about something. He touches his badge. "Dunsworth to transporter room. Beam Commander Dunsworth up."

" _Uh, yes, sir."_ About a minute later, as the ships get closer to the gateway. _"Captain, we have her and she requests to talk to you."_

"Copy that. Put her on and leave the room," he says as he leaves the bridge.

" _Uh, yes, sir."_

A minute later. _"Clifton, why am I on the_ Liberty _?"_

"Yolis, I don't know what would happen to you or our baby if you stay on the Normandy as we go through the gate. I don't want to risk it. I know for a fact that both of you will be safe on that ship. Please, trust me, honey."

" _I do trust you, dear. It was just unexpected."_

Rorik smiles. "Like finding out that I'm going to be a…" his smile vanishes, "father."

" _Damnit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up."_

"No, it was me. Listen, if something happens to me, promise you'll do whatever it takes to keep our child safe and still have a parent, even if it means quitting Starfleet."

" _Clifton, what are you-"_

"Promise me, Yolis."

" _Clifton… I… I promise."_

"Good. Now go relive E'Zmon. And keep this a secret. I would like to tell the crew in person."

" _Yes, sir."_

As he walks back to the bridge, Rorik says to Shepard, "Sorry, had to take care of something personal." As the Normandy goes through the gate, Rorik continues, "Commander Shepard, welcome to the Solanae Dyson Sphere. We are currently not sure where exactly we are, but we are still in the Delta Quadrant. We will soon pass through another gateway and we will end up in the Beta Quadrant. From there we will head straight to the Sol system. Once we are at Earth, we need to get the Normandy docked and we need to be debriefed. It will take us a few days to get home." Then his combadge started to beep and he opened the channel. "Dunsworth here."

" _Captain, how are you feeling?"_

"Ah, Commander Dunsworth. I'm feeling fine."

" _Oh, thank goodness."_

He smiled. "That sounds more than professional concern, Commander."

He hears her chuckle. _"Well, everyone knows about us, remember? You said it over the intercom."_

He chuckles. "Yeah well. You did help change me for the better." It was true. At first, he was more focused on stopping the Klingons, even though he did stop to help people along the way. Then he became more focused on helping anyone who needed help, including Klingons. In fact, one of his top engineers is a Klingon. However, at first, he didn't trust Hen-Kel as far as he could spit backwards. Over time, with some help from the then Lieutenant Yolis Jaras, and Rorik began to learn more about Hen-Kel and began to trust him. He began to change from the warrior to diplomat and explorer. "Yolis, thank you again."

Rorik could swear that he could hear her trying not to chuckle as he walked off the bridge. _"C-Captain. The whole bridge can hear you."_

He smiles. "So? Like you said, they already know about us. I love you."

" _Damnit, sir. I'm trying to be professional. I love you too, Captain."_

"How long exactly will it take us to reach Sol?"

" _Three, maybe four days if we go at warp 9.97. If we didn't have the Normandy, we can shave it off to one day max with the slipstream drive. But since we have the Normandy in tow, the fastest we can go for sure is warp factor 9.97."_

"Yeah, I don't know if the ship can take transwarp. Ahead warp factor 9 and patch me through to the transporter," he says as he walks to Shepard.

A new voice came through. _"Transporter room here, sir."_

"Lock onto me but stand by."

" _Copy that. We have a lock on you and are standing by."_

Rorik walks up to Shepard. "Commander. I have confirmed with my ship. It will take up a few days to reach Sol. I will be onboard your ship when we do, but until we reach Sol, I will be on my ship."

Shepard nods. "Understood. We will just follow your ship. Thank you for coming to our help." He holds out his hand.

Rorik takes it as he says, "It was a pleasure. And thank you for trusting me and my crew." After they are done, Rorik steps back and touches his combadge. "Dunsworth to transporter room. One to beam up."

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. I remember when Shepard first saw the Citadel. He, Ash, and Kaidan all talked about how incredible it was, but the Dyson Spheres are like planets and they should put the Citadel to shame. Also I would like to give a shoutout to dekuton. We have been talking about how certain elements about the story should be. I hope everyone who reads this is liking the story._**


	8. Chapter 7

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online** _ **.**_

 _Chapter 7_

 _Captain's quarters;_ U.S.S. Liberty Omega

Rorik cuddled with his wife under the blankets, his hands holding where his child is. Then unexpectedly, he shifted onto his back and Yolis felt that this was not normal and turned to face him and heard shallow breaths. _'Damnit. This hasn't happened for a long time,'_ she thought. She scooted closer to him and put a hand on his hairy chest and did small light circular motions to bring him back. The longer she did it, the longer his breaths became and he eventually opened his eyes. Yolis knew what it was, so she asked, "What caused it this time?"

Rorik looked at the ceiling of their quarters. "It's the fact that I'm gonna be a father. That brought back the memories." He grabs the small yet strong hand that's on his chest and looks at her. "But the fact that they will have both parents helps." He smiles as he lets go of her hand and put his hand on the side of her face. She grabs the hand as she smiles back. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replies as they start kissing. Then the intercom started to beep. As they drew their heads back, Yolis says to him, "You better answer it. You should know how stubborn your crew is." They both smile.

Rorik scoots out of the bed and, in his underwear, walks over to the intercom. He activates it and says, "This is Dunsworth. Go ahead."

E'Mzon replies, _"Captain, you are needed on the bridge."_

"Understood. I will be there in a bit. Dunsworth out." He ends the call and walks over to his wardrobe. He puts his pants and undershirt on grabs his vice admiral jacket and starts to head to the door. When he got to the door, he turned around and walked to his wife, who looked at him seductively. He sat on the bed next to her and smiled as he put a hand on her stomach. "I'm sorry, hun." He leans over and kisses her. "Duty calls." As he heads out the door, he swings the jacket over his shoulders and puts it on.

 _Bridge_

As Rorik walks out of the elevator and onto the bridge, he hears E'Mzon, out of all the people, say, "Captain on deck." As the Reman salutes in his way, the Starfleet personnel salutes in the traditional way as well.

Rorik snaps his heels together and threw his hand to his head as he says, "At ease. Commander E'Zmon, what's going on?"

E'Mzon walked up to him and whispered, "Captain, I didn't mean to, but I overheard what you said when Yolis was brought up."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No, sir. I figured that if anyone talked it would be you."

"Thank you." Rorik walked past the Reman and sat in his chair. He activated the intercom. "Attention. This is the captain speaking. Attention. Will all personnel please report to the holodecks? Six of Nine, link all holodecks to Holodeck C. I have an announcement to make. That is all." He turns it off and looks at the bridge crew. "Put everything on autopilot and report to the holodecks."

 _Sometime later; Holodeck C_

Rorik walked into the holodeck and almost into Six of Nine. "Sorry, Commander. Did you get it all ready?"

The liberated Borg looks at him. As she brings up her holographic arm tool, which looks a bit like the omni-tools that Shepard's crew uses, she says, in her creepy almost mechanical voice, "Yes, sir. I assume you will tell us what's going on."

"Yeah. Just be patient a little longer, Six."

Six salutes, which Rorik returns, as she says, "Yes, sir."

As she leaves, Rorik walks over to the controls and Yolis walks up to him. "Clifton, what's going on?"

Without looking at her, Rorik says as a virtual box appears on the other side of the room, "It's time to tell them." He looks at her. "Come on." They walk over to the box and stand on it as some of the crew piles in. After a few minutes, Rorik looks at the crowd that has gathered. "Welcome. Most of you are wondering what this is about and most of you are from the _Liberty Bravo_ , but all of you are my family. For you new transfers, next to me is First Officer Commander Yolis Dunsworth, my wife. I proposed to her back when I was a vice admiral in command of the _Bravo._ Well, back on Kobali Prime, I learned about some very important and very happy news. I will be recommending Commander E'Zmon and Commander Six of Nine as Acting Captain and Acting First Officer, respectively, as I take leave to help with Yolis while she is on maternity leave," he says as he grabs Yolis' shoulder and brings her close.

Then Ensign Irani asked, "C-Captain, what did you say?"

Rorik smiled. "Back on Kobali Prime, I heard one single bit of news that will forever change our lives."

Yolis picked up right where he left off. "Crewmembers, I have been pregnant for a few weeks."

Rorik continues. "As soon as we get to the ESD, we will go see Admiral Quinn and tell him the news. Then I will tell him that I am taking a leave of absence for the next few years, maybe longer, so I can help her as she carries our child then I will help raise our child together." There was a moment of silence, then all six holodecks cheer. He let it go for a few minutes, before he raised a hand and said, "Thank you. Thank you. But I'm not finished. Only a few of you know about my past. Yolis is the only one who knows all the details. When I was young, a Klingon raiding party attacked my home. I was the only survivor, but I had enough time to hold my father as he died in my arms. Hen-Kel, that is why I didn't trust you. But my wife, the then Lieutenant Yolis Jaras, helped me see the errors of my way. But my past is the reason why I'm not going to let Yolis raise our child alone. Thank you. You're dismissed." As he took a step off the virtual box, the six holodecks cheered for them. With one foot on the box and the other on the floor, he swept Yolis off her feet and carried her.

As Rorik approached the crowd, they cleared a path as Six of Nine said, "Ten hut," and saluted and the rest followed.

Yolis leaned her head on his shoulder while saying, "I love you, but do you really have to carry me?"

Rorik smiles as he kisses her cheek. "Probably not, but I just feel like doing it."

Just then, a nearby intercom beeps. As Rorik walks past it, Yolis asks, "Aren't you gonna answer that?"

Rorik sighs as he stops and sets her feet down. He walks over to the intercom and answers it. "Dunsworth here."

Then an unknown voice comes back. _"I assume this is Admiral Dunsworth?"_

"This is he. Who is this?"

" _Admiral, this is Captain V'bbal of the_ U.S.S. Bishop _. Be advised that you are towing an unknown ship to the Sol System."_

"Captain, be advised that I have permission from Admiral Quinn to do so."

" _Ah. Here is the message. My apologies, Admiral. You are cleared to approach the ESD."_

"Thank you, Captain." He ends the transmission and looks at the crew. "I hate to do this, but back to your stations." As the crew heads back to their stations, they leave Rorik alone with Yolis. "Us too. I was planning on carrying you to our quarters but we need to head to the bridge."

 _Bridge_

Rorik walked out of the elevator with Yolis right at his side. He walked up to and sat in his chair, while Yolis went to her station. Then the comms officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Diane Allard, turned in her chair and looked at Rorik. "Captain."

Rorik tuned and looked at the young Frenchwoman. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Sir. First of all, congratulations on your child."

"Thank you, Diane."

She smiles. "Thank you, sir. Also, we have made contact with the ESD."

"On screen."

She turns back to her console. "Yes, sir."

The viewscreen went black and then one of the communication officer at the ESD. The almost elderly Andorian looked from his console to his screen. _"_ U.S.S. Liberty Omega _, this is the Earth Spacedock. I would like to connect to the ship you are towing."_

Rorik nods. "Copy that." He turns to Comms Officer Allard. "Lieutenant, patch in the Normandy." As she does that, Rorik looked at the screen. "It will take a while, and they can only do audio."

The Andorian looked at him. _"Copy that, Admiral."_

" _Admiral."_ Rorik turns his head to look at Allard. "Sir, I have them on the line."

"Patch them in."

A few seconds later. _"This is Shepard."_

"Shepard, you are patched into a three-way channel between us and the ESD."

" _Attention, Earth Spacedock. This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2. I believe that you should be expecting us. We are requesting permission to dock and are needing repairs."_

The Andorian looked at the console in front of him. _"Stand by. Commander, you have clearance to dock. Approach exterior docking bay 23. Welcome to the Earth Spacedock."_

Rorik looks at the screen. "Is Admiral Quinn in his office?"

The comms officer looks at his console. _"Yes, sir. Would you like me to transfer you?"_

"No, thank you. I would like to talk to him in person."

" _Understood, Admiral. You have clearance to dock as well. ESD out."_ The screen closes and shows the ESD in the viewscreen.

Rorik turns to Allard. "Allard, sent the coordinates of the docking bay to Shepard." He looks at Yolis. "Commander, disengage the tractor beam." He turns his head to E'mzon. "Commander E'Zmon, you have the com. For the next few years." He stands up and salutes him. "Make me proud of leaving my ship in your hands."

The Reman shocked Rorik when E'Mzon saluted Rorik with the traditional human salute instead of the usual Reman salute. "Of course, Captain." It looks like he has something on his mind. "Cap… Rorik, now I guess, can you promise me something? Promise you'll bring your kid up one day."

Rorik smiles. "I can do that. It's been an honor to be your captain."

"It has been an honor to serve under you."

Yolis walks over and salutes E'Mzon also. "Acting Captain, take care of her."

"Of course, Commander." He looks at Rorik. "Sir, you take care of her."

Rorik smiles as he drops his arm. "I will." Looking at Yolis, he offers his arm, and says, "Shall we go, my dear?"

Yolis giggles a little as she loops her arm around his and says, "You're so funny at times. I love you."

Rorik smiles as he plants a kiss on her cheek. "I love you too," he says as they walk to the elevator.

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. So a few things. First, Rorik believes in the 'personal touch.' The way he inspires loyalty is similar to the way Shepard does. He inspires loyalty by being close to the crew, as shown by the 'you're my family' part. Plus the part where E'Mzon salutes the Starfleet way instead of the Reman way. It's from his background, sole survivor of a colony massacre. So he owes the crew the truth. One more chapter then we will see them back in five story years (Five fits better with what I have in mind). So will Starfleet see the Normandy as a block op group? We will find out next time. Just so everyone knows. It has been so long that I got my ships mixed up. The_ Bravo _was the ship when Rorik proposed. The_ Delta _was after that one, and was a Mirror Assault Cruiser. The_ Echo _was next and was an T6 Exploration Cruiser. The_ Omega _is an T6 Intel Assault Cruiser._**


	9. Chapter 8

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 8_

 _Normandy docked in bay 23; ESD_

Shepard walks through the airlock and almost into a security team. "What's going on here?"

The leader is an almost human alien, the only thing that tells Shepard that he's an alien is that the irises are completely black. The leader says, "I'm sorry, sir. Standard procedure regarding unknowns."

"I understand. If you'll allow me, I would like to tell my people to expect you." The alien nods and Shepard activates him omni-tool. "Attention, this is Shepard. There is a security team here, and I would like everyone to be on their best behavior. Javik, if you think it's best if you keep to your room then stay there, please." As he finished, he felt like there was something digging in his mind, and it reminded him about the Illusive Man. Intuitively, he went for a pistol that wasn't there.

The alien sees this and says, "My apologies. I had to check to see if you were being honest."

"What was that?"

"My species is telepathic. But I'm surprised that you felt it. Usually people can't tell if a Betazoid is reading their minds."

"Well, I had a similar experience except that the bastard controlled me."

"I am sorry. I'll try not to do it to you again."

"Thank you. I would like to talk to an Admiral Quinn, please."

"Of course." The alien looks at the team and with a nod tells them to check the ship out. He looks back at Shepard. "If you will follow me, Commander."

 _Meanwhile, Quinn's office_

Rorik and Yolis walks into the room and stand at attention. Quinn stands up and smiles as he says, "Dunsworths, glad you could make it. At ease."

He stretches a hand over his desk, and Rorik shakes it as he says, "Thank you, Admiral." As they let goes of each other's hands, Rorik asks, "May we sit? I have somethings to say."

"Of course. Sit." As all three of them sits, he continues, "So, Rorik, what is it?"

Rorik leans forward and puts his elbows on his knees, hands together. "Sir, the Normandy and her crew are… not from here. They are, in fact, from a different Milky Way. They are mostly human but there are unknown aliens on the ship. They have an Earth, but instead of the Federation, they have a Systems Alliance. They don't use warp technology but they have an FTL drive system. I think that if we can find a way to incorporate our tech into theirs, we may have just found an ally."

Quinn leaned back in his chair. "Hmm. I have to run this through with the rest of Command but I do see the wisdom of what you're saying. Also, I don't think this is all that you have to talk about, otherwise your First Officer wouldn't be here."

Rorik smiles and thinks, _'He's right. I always come down alone.'_ "Admiral, I request permission to take a few years leave."

Quinn frowns a bit. "You refused to take leave, expect when your ship needs drydock, and even then, you request to use a different ship. Why are you suddenly requesting leave?"

Rorik is having trouble not smiling. "Sir, I request you give Yolis maternity leave, and give me leave to take care of her. All those times I have denied leave had to have collected together and now I am calling it all in."

"Wait. Did you say, 'maternity leave'?"

Rorik couldn't help it anymore. A smile breaks out as he says, "Yes, sir. We're… we're having a baby."

Quinn smiles. "Wow. Congratulations, son. Of course, take all the time you need. I assume you want to recommend, what's-his-name, the Reman, Commander… E'mzon?"

"Yes, sir. I recommend him as acting captain and Commander Six of Nine as acting first officer. All I need is permission from you."

"Clifton, like I said. Take all the time you need. But I will need to take to the others about your recommendation."

As the three of them stand up, Quinn walks around his desk and gives Rorik another firm handshake, as Rorik says, "Thank you, Jorel."

Quinn then walked up to Yolis and hugged her while saying, "Congratulations, Yolis."

As they broke up, they kissed each other's cheeks as she says, "Thank you, Jorel."

Quinn turns to Rorik. "Clifton, if you want, I have piece of land on Earth in which you could borrow."

"Thanks, but I purchased a kinda broken down house on Earth. I was planning on retiring and rebuilding the place by hand, but now," he looks at Yolis, "I figured that now I have a real reason. But I could use a ride."

"Of course." He turns to his secretary, Lieutenant Linnea. "Lieutenant, take them to my personal shuttle and give the keys, so to speak."

His secretary salutes him and turns to Rorik and Yolis. "If you would follow me." As they exited the room, Linnea ran into Shepard bounced off and landed into Rorik's arms. Looking at him, she says, "Thank you, Admiral."

Shepard walks over. "I'm sorry, ma'am. Are you alright?"

She looks at him and it looks like she is kinda blushing. "Y-Yeah. I-I'm fine." The Ocampa quickly stands up straight and fixes her blondish-colored hair, which doesn't need fixing. She walks back into Quinn's office, and after a minute, she walks out and says to Shepard, "Y-You can go in now." As Shepard walks past her, she turns her head away, but Rorik sees that her cheeks are almost a bright-red.

Yolis walks up beside him and whispers, "I think the young lieutenant has a crush on him."

He smiles and whispers back, "You know, I think she does."

As Shepard walks past the woman who bumped into him and watches as she turns her head away from him. When he enters the room, and stands at attention. The elder-looking man studies him, and says, "At ease. I take it that you're Commander Shepard?"

"Yes, sir."

"Take a seat. I just want to take the time to know who possibly saved one of my best captains."

Shepard sits in one of the chairs and says, "Thank you, sir."

The man smiles. "I take it you're a soldier, by the constant 'sirs,' am I right?"

"Yes, sir. Technically, sir, I'm a marine."

"Hmm. Well, talk to me as if I'm a friend. I'm Admiral Jorel Quinn."

"I'll try, sir. I mean, Quinn."

He smiles. "That's better. Now-" the console on his desk starts beeping. "I'm sorry. I have to take this."

"I'll wait outside, sir," Shepard says as he starts to stand up.

"No. You're fine." He presses a button on the console. "Admiral Quinn here."

" _Quinn, this is Eyvn. Admiral Jaal, would like to have a meeting concerning this new ship."_

"Understood. Where and when?"

" _Starfleet Command in two hours."_

"Copy that. I have the captain of the ship with me right now. Do you want me to bring him?"

" _Yes."_

"Understood. Quinn out." He ends the call and looks at Shepard. "Go to your ship and get ready. Return here when you're done." Shepard stands up and salutes. "You're dismissed, Commander."

"Sir." Shepard walks out the office.

 _Two hours later; Earth; outside San Francisco_

Rorik and Yolis stood and looked at the house. He could have sworn that it was in better condition the last time he was here. But it didn't matter. One of the things he learned in his youth was how good it felt to put something together with little to no modern tools. He always told himself that when he starts to live in a house it would be a house that he built or repaired himself. He looks at Yolis as he brought her closer. "I hope you love it."

She looks at him. "Not now. But I will once we finish."

He smiles. "That-a-girl. You know, most people would like a finish home before they move in."

She smiles. "Yeah, but you aren't most people. Hell, I would get up in the middle on the night and see you working on a block of wood. At first, I didn't understand why you didn't use modern tools. But then, one day, you kinda forced me to make something from wood using hand tools. And now I agree with you. It feels better to make something with your hands. And that is why, I guess, you bought this dump. So, you could feel better about what you're living in."

He smiles as he kisses her on the top of her head. "You are right. Back at Paradox, my dad showed me the joy about using hand tools on wood. And when I retire, I would live in a home that I built with my own hands."

Yolis smiles. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to work." Rorik smiles at her eagerness and let's go of her shoulder as they walk towards their future home.

 _Meanwhile; Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco_

Shepard, now in his dress blues, stood at attention in front of a council. The female in the middle spoke through what looked like a mic. "Command log. Stardate: 95398.8250. Admirals presiding: Admiral Sinyn Jaal."

The alien, with antennae, to her right spoke next. "Admiral Eikv Eyvn."

Then Admiral Quinn, on the left of the first admiral. "Admiral Jorel Quinn."

Then the first admiral spoke to Shepard. "State your name, occupation, and origin."

Shepard walked up to the stand in front of him and spoke into the mic. "I am John Shepard, commander in the Alliance, captain of the SSV Normandy SR-2, and part of the office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."

"Thank you, Commander. Would you mind explaining what you just said?"

"Of course, Admiral. First, let me say that I'm not from this Milky Way. I'm from an alternate dimension. Where I'm from, Earth and its colonies has a government called the Systems Alliance. In a way it's similar to your Starfleet. The Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, or Spectres, is a branch of the Citadel Council, which is made up of four councilors, one for each Council race and is similar to your United Federation of Planets. The four council races are humans, turians, asari, and salarians. The Spectres are only governed by the Council and are granted nearly unlimited power. I am in command of the Systems Alliance Space Vehicle Normandy Stealth Reconnaissance-2, a ship of both turain and human design."

"Thank you, Commander, for clarifying where you are from. We understand that you have some kind of FTL travel, is that correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. We use a drive core called a mass effect core, I don't know the specifics, but it uses an element called element zero, or eezo, and an electrical current goes through the eezo which changes the mass of the ship depending of the charge of the current. Like I said, I don't know the specifics of it, but that is as much as I know, ma'am."

"Thank you. We shall recess for a few minutes, to discuss privately what will happen next."

"Of course, Admiral." Shepard turns and walks out of the room. When he's out in the hall, a familiar figure walks up to him. It was the woman who ran into him.

She walks up to him and says, "H-Hey."

"Hey." She seems real nervous, maybe embarrassed. "Hey, about what happened up on the station."

She starts to blush, "Yeah, I-I think that was my fault. Ummm. W-Would you like to take a tour of San Francisco, later, maybe?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I would like to, sometime."

She starts blushing even more, "O-OK, then."

Just then a guard opens the door to the courtroom. "Commander."

Shepard nods at the guard, then looks at the woman. "Take care of yourself."

Shepard doesn't know if she can get any redder. "Oh, uh, t-thanks." She basically runs down the corridor, as Shepard walks into the room.

Once Shepard stands at attention behind the stand, the first admiral speaks up. "Commander. We have a proposition for you. We don't know how long it would take but we would like to get you home." Shepard knew there was something else. "Until then, we would like to use you and your ship for operations that falls outside of Starfleet jurisdiction."

Shepard leans against the stand. "Black ops, you mean."

"Yes, Commander. If you don't know, we have a somewhat of a stable treaty with the Klingons."

"And you want the Normandy to do black op mission with full deniability since we are not from here."

"Yes. Commander, you will be sent out on only highly dangerous missions that can be in no shape or form, as you humans say, tied back to Starfleet."

"Admiral, my ship will need some modifications to be able to operate in this galaxy. So, what are my options?"

"Commander, we will help you get back home, but since we don't know how long it could take, it only seems logical that you will need our help and we will make the necessary modifications to your ship."

"Fine, but on one condition."

She leans forward. "What is it?"

"I don't want to be sent out on every little problem."

"That is logical. Very well."

* * *

 ** _Hey guys. So Rorik rarely took time off even when his ship needs drydock. And now that he has a reason he is collecting on the entire time of leave. Now about the Starfleet Command staff. I only know that Quinn is on it. If anyone knows who else is on it please tell me. I had to use name generators. And I decided to give Linnea a crush on Shepard. I couldn't find out anything about her life, so if she has some kind of mate please tell me._**


	10. Chapter 9

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 9_

 _Five standard Earth years later; Dunsworths' house of residence, outside San Francisco_

Rorik couldn't be any happier. He has a beautiful, loving wife, a strong, healthy, happy daughter named Alexis, and a house he built with his hands. Speaking of family, something heavy just landed on his chest. "Ugh!" He opens his eyes and sees a young face right in front of his face. "Oh, God. Don't you know an easier way to wake me up?"

Alexis smiles and says, "No, Daddy. Besides its more fun this way."

He smiles as he puts a head on her head and turns his head to the 'sleeping' form of Yolis and says, "Yolis. Look at what you have done."

She smiles and says, as she opens one, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rorik leans over and kisses her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Then the doorbell rings, and Alexis jumps off Rorik and runs to the door, while saying, "I bet it's Auntie Mirra." Rorik smiles as he rolls out of bed. Out of all the crew, she bonded more with Mirra. As he puts a thin jacket on, Alexis runs back into the room and grabs a hand. "Come on, Daddy."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. I need my morning coffee first," he says as he walks to the kitchen. After he fixes his coffee, he grabs his mug, a wedding gift from Quinn, and picks up his daughter. When he gets to the front door, he looks through the peephole. He smiles as he lowers himself to let Alexis open the door.

The door opens and they get greeted by the sun and by two family members. In his arms, Alexis cries out, "Auntie Mirra, Uncle Gipat," and she holds her arms out as Mirra grabs her.

Mirra smiles as Rorik lets her carry Alexis and says, "Hey, sweetie. Spirits, you're getting big."

Giphat walks up to Rorik and they shake hands. "So, how is early retirement?"

Rorik laughs. "It's not so bad. I get to sleep when I want, no dress regulations. So how is the ship?"

Starfleet Command put Mirra as acting captain and Giphat as first officer. These two have been in the crew longer than E'mzon and Six of Nine. "The _Liberty_ is fine." His face darkened, his antennae kinda drooped.

"What happened?"

"It's Shepard. I'll explain more over breakfast."

Rorik nods as Yolis walks into the room. He looks at her. "Honey, take Mirra and Alexis out for breakfast."

Yolis looks confused. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"It's Shepard." That was all she needed.

Yolis looks at Mirra and Alexis, who is playing with Mirra's antennae. "Let me go get dressed."

Mirra says, "Ok." She looks at Alexis. "Hey, sweetie. Go get dress. We're going out to eat."

Alexis beamed. "Ok. I can show you my favorite place to eat."

 _Sometime later_

Rorik poured himself another cup then one for Giphat. He walks over to the table, sits and give Giphat the cup. "What happened?"

"Well. Command got intel about a group of officials being held hostage. Intelligence went through the intel and it seemed good. Shepard was sent in to rescue them. But it was a trap. And now Shepard had what's-his-name, the pilot…"

"Joker."

"Right. Shepard had him send out a distress signal. Most of them made it out. Shepard, Williams, Vega, and three others were captured. Command has denied their involvement in this." Rorik stands up and leans against a wall. "However, Quinn came to us and gave us the intel they have. He said something about us owing our lives to them. Just say the word and the _Liberty_ will go."

Rorik thought for a second, and he hates himself for what he says next. "Commander, I will not let you lead a rescue mission…"

Right on cue, Giphat stood up and said, "W-What?! You can't just let them rot! They-"

Rorik raised a hand. "Let me finish. You are not leading a rescue mission, because I will."

"Sir, they saved your- Wait, what?"

Rorik stands straight. "Commander, like you said. They save our lives, it's time to return the favor."

Giphat's jaw dropped. "But, sir. What about your daughter?"

"Yolis will take care of her. But you need to worry about us. There is a chance that we could get court marshaled for this."

Giphat salutes. "Sir, this is probably a human saying, but to hell with that."

Rorik salutes back. "Good man. Now let's grab the _Omega_ and let's-"

"Uh, sir. About that. She's been grounded. Quinn said that Command ordered it to keep us from intervening. However, in orbit is the _Delta_. Quinn made sure that she's outfitted with the best tech. Just say the word, and the _D_ _elta_ will get us out of here."

Rorik smiles. "Good. Let me tell my family."

 _Few weeks ago; Captain's quarters, Normandy SR-2; Sanek Sector_

Shepard looked over the briefing again. It was text message.

' _Commander Shepard,  
_ _Starfleet Command has gotten intel of some high-level officials deep in Klingon territory.'_

What follows is a list of six profiles and information about the sector and the asteroid they are on.

' _Bring them back safely.  
_ _Admiral Quinn.'_

Shepard looked at the info provided by Starfleet Intelligence. Starfleet came through with the modifications. Along with the old heat emission sinks, there is now a cloaking device. But what is more interesting, are these dilithium crystals that they use. EDI and Tali both studied the crystals and found out something amazing. At first, the crew was worried about running out of eezo, but EDI and Tali found out that these crystals are a version of element zero. Eezo and dilithium are similar to coals and diamonds. After so long under great pressure eezo becomes these crystals. But back to the mission. The officials are being held in the Eridon Nebula, deep in Klingon territory.

Then Joker came on the intercom. _"Commander, ETA to this nebula is half an hour."_

Shepard looks up. "Copy that, Joker. Send Ash, Garrus, Liara, James, and Tali to the cargo bay."

" _Roger that."_

Shepard dropped the briefing on the desk and headed to the elevator.

 _Cargo bay_

Shepard, now in his N7 armor, walked over to the weapons locker and unlocked it. He grabs a Revenant, Widow, Claymore, Predator, and a M-4 Shuriken Machine Pistol. He rarely uses a SMG, but he could give the Predator and the Shuriken to any of the hostages that had any firearm training. As he goes to put ammo in the guns, he sees his people get off the elevator and walks to their lockers to put their armor on.

After he loads his guns, he walks over to Steve, who was working on an old friend. He asks him, "How's the Mako?" During the Reaper War, the Normandy made a stop at the planet Alchera in the Amada system. Once there, the crew managed to get the old M-35 Mako IFV MK-II into the Normandy.

Steve sighs and looks at him. "Honestly, I can now see why Mr. Vega prefers the Mako. The Hammerhead would have been scrap metal."

They heard James say at the weapons locker, _"Ha. See, I told you that the Mako's better!"_

Shepard smiles as Steve continues. "Well, the Mako's ready."

Shepard says, "Good," as he climbs on the box next to him. As the squad members gathered in front of him, Shepard says, "Ok. Here's the plan. Williams, Vakarian and I will go in the Mako. James, Cortez will take you and your squad in the Kodiak to the other side of the base."

James says, "Really, Loco? You get a tank and I get a shuttle?"

"I have more experience with this tank. Garrus and Tali made modifications to it. Besides, we will be going through the front door. You are used to that. An N7 has to be used to different kinds of operations. We will be the distraction while your squad finds and rescues the hostages. We will provide backup if needed."

"Alright, Loco. But next time, I get the tank."

Shepard smiles. "After you learn our Mako and how she behaves." He looks at Liara. "Liara, Tali and Adams have made a combat helmet for you."

She holds it up. "Got it. It will be nice to use a helmet instead of a mask."

Shepard nods. "Alright. Load up!" Shepard climbs onto the Mako opens the hatch and helps Garrus and Ashley up. He is the last one in and sees Ashley in his seat. "Ash."

She sighs as she gets out of the driver's seat and into her seat. "We hate your driving."

Shepard laughs as he sits in his seat and puts his helmet on. In front of the Mako, the cargo bay door opens. He activates his commlink. "Cortez, this is Shepard. Wait for my signal."

" _Copy that, Commander."_

When the Normandy stops close to the base, Garrus says, "Ah, spirits. This is why I hate the Makoooo!" Shepard guns it.

The tank is free falling while Shepard yells out, "Yahoo!" When they landed on the asteroid, Shepard says, "God, I missed that!"

Behind him Garrus says to Ashley, "Ash, next time, DON'T LET SHEPARD DRIVE THE TANK!"

Shepard chuckles as he says over his shoulder, "Come on, Garrus. It's just like old times."

"Yeah, a little too much. And here I thought that you would have spent some time in the afterlife and learned how to drive."

Everyone chuckles. Then Ashley spoke up. "Shepard. We are approaching the base."

"Copy that. Garrus, lock and load." Once the base was in sight, Shepard yelled out, "Fire the cannon!" From his viewport, Shepard watches as the shell hits a wall and blows a hole in it. Then a shield covers the hole.

Behind him, Garrus yells out, "Ready!"

"Fire!" The shell hits close to the first hole and makes it bigger, both the hole and shield.

Then Ashley spoke up, "Shepard! Drones incoming!"

"Garrus!"

"On it!" He hears the machine gun attachment roar to life. Through the view port, Shepard watches as figures in spacesuits jump through the shield one at a time and open fire. The green bolts hit the shields of the Mako, barely doing damage.

Then a thought dawned in Shepard's head. "Garrus, aim the cannon 90os to the left."

Behind him, Garrus says, "Ready. For what I don't know." Shepard doesn't answer.

Shepard guns it and does a hard-left turn, hitting the figures with the tires and lining up the cannon with the wall. "Fire!" Shepard hears an explosion and activates the left side camera and sees the hole is big enough for the three of them. Shepard activates the parking brakes as he says, "This is our stop." Garrus opens the hatch and fires his Phaeston at the remaining drones. When it was clear, Ashley exited next then Shepard. Once Shepard's feet hit the 'ground,' he activated his commlink. "Cortez, head to the other side of the base."

In his helmet, he heard, _"Copy that, Commander."_ Then the three of them went through the hole and entered the base.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys. Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger. I read that most people hate the way the Mako drives. But me, the Mako was the best part of**_ **Mass Effect _. I would drive off cliffs just for the fun of it. Using that info, I made it where when Shepard drives the crew from_ ME1 _hates it. Now Starfleet Command grounded the_ Omega _because it wouldn't be the first time that Rorik did something against orders. But Quinn recognizes that the Normandy and crew saved Rorik, and so he decides to do something similar to what Anderson did in_ ME1 _. And besides, if Quinn didn't help, Rorik would have done it anyway._**


	11. Chapter 10

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 10_

 _Klingon Asteroid Base, Eridon Nebula, Sanek Sector_

Shepard dove behind a wall as green bolts zipped by him and thought to himself, _'Barely in and already under fire. Good. That means the distraction is working.'_ He peeks around a corner and is forced back into cover. With the Revenant out already, he crouches down and blind fires a few rounds. As he brings his rifle back, Garrus pops out and fires a burst from his rifle. Shepard mods the ammo in his and his squad's weapons to Disrupter Ammo and then loads a concussive round into his rifle, which gets modded by the ammo. He leans out of cover and launches the round out, which hits the lead Klingon and breaks his shields and the shields around him, as they are grouped together. Shepard quickly puts his rifle up and grabs the Claymore from the back of his waist. Activating his optical synopsis, Shepard rushes out to the group and at almost point-blank range pulls the trigger. After a delay, the shotgun kicks with enough force to break a normal human's arm, and the entire group of Klingons gets blasted off their feet and lay dead on the ground.

Ashley and Garrus walks up and Garrus says, in the helmet-to-helmet channel. _"Damn, Shepard. Is that the same one from the Collector's ship?"_

Shepard replies, "Yeah. And it still has a helluva kick to it." He pumps the gun; the spent thermal clip ejects while a fresh one loads in.

In his helmet, Shepard picks up communication from James, but it's being scrambled. _"Comm...elp now...host...oom..."_

Shepard touches the side of his helmet. "James, repeat!"

"... _help...now...Comm...ead me..."_

"James? James?! Damn it!" He looks at his squad. "Can either of you reach him?" They both tried but they shook their heads. He touches his helmet again. "Normandy! Do you read me?"

Joker came through, but can barely be heard over all the static. _"Barely. Traynor and EDI lost Vega, but is trying to keep with you."_

"What about Cortez?"

" _He's back in the ship."_

"Joker, if you don't hear from us in a few hours, get the hell out of here and back to Earth!"

" _Commander, I won't leave you. You gave your life to save mine. Don't think I won't do the same for you!"_

"Joker, I'm not saying don't come back for me. Get back to Earth if you don't hear from us. Shepard out." He looks at Ashley and Garrus. "Let's move!"

They didn't get far before a voice came over the loudspeakers. _"Attention, Starfleet dogs. Surrender and we just might let you and the others live."_

Shepard spoke up. "We are not Starfleet. If you want to live, I suggest you hand over my team and the hostages."

" _The only hostages we have is your team. You thought that you could take over this base, and use it as a staging ground for an attack on Qo'nos? Well, Federation swine, you thought wrong!"_

Shepard looked at his squad. Then squads of Klingons jumped out and attacked. He quickly activated his commlink to Joker. "JOKER! GET OUT OF HERE! IT'S A TRAP!" Then a giant reptile picked him up and threw him into a wall knocking him out.

 _Present day; Dunsworths' house of residence, outside San Francisco_

Rorik walked up to his family. Alexis let go of Yolis' hand and charged into Rorik, balling. "Daddy! I don't want you to go!"

As he kneeled down, he had flashbacks about Roy. He hugs her as he says, "Baby, I don't want to go either. But I have to save a friend. Look, I promise I'll be back."

She pulls back and sticks a small stuby pinky out. "Pinky promise?"

Rorik smiles as he loops his pinky around hers. "Pinky promise." Then she hugs him again. After a while, Rorik says, "I love you."

She manages to get out through the crying, "I love you too, Daddy."

Yolis kneels beside him. "Are you sure, dear?"

Rorik's eyes start to water as he says, "I'm sure, honey. You take care of her. I don't know when I'll be back, but I will. I will not let our child go through what I did." He speaks to his daughter as they pull back, his voice starts to break. "Alexis, I want you to be strong for Mommy. Ok?"

Alexis used one of her small hands to wipe an eye as she says, "I-I will, Daddy."

Rorik smiles then plants a kiss on her forehead. "That's my girl. Auntie Mirra will stay here with you." He gives her one last firm hug, then stands up and walks over to Giphat. He gives Giphat a nod. As Giphat talks to the _Liberty Delta_ , he watches as Alexis throw the most adorable salute he has ever seen. He smiles and gives her one back before he began to dematerialize.

 _Transporter room,_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta _; in orbit around Earth_

After Rorik materialized, the first thing that greeted him was E'mzon saying, "Attention! Captain on deck!" and him, along with everyone else in the room, saluting him.

Since his arm was already up, he put it down while saying, "At ease. Tell the bridge to get us out of here. I figure that we won't have long before Command notices the _D_ _elta_."

Six of Nine, who is in the room, says, "Yes, sir." She walks over to the intercom. "Transporter room to bridge. We have the captain. Now get us out of here."

" _Commander, Captain, you might want to come up here."_ Rorik looks at Six and runs out the room and to the elevator.

 _Bridge_

Rorik runs out of the elevator and to Comms Officer Allard. "What's going on?"

She salutes him and he returns it. "Captain, we have two incoming transmissions. One is from the Normandy, but the other is from Command."

"Damn, patch them both through."

Apparently, they were in a communication between each other. _"-his life to save mine! If you won't help us, then screw you!"_

" _Flight Lieutenant. You will stand down."_

" _Lady, I can't and I won't!"_

" _Admiral Dunsworth, you will disable their ship and then power down yours."_

" _Rorik! Shepard gave his life to save mine years ago. And five years ago, he risked his life to save yours and your crew's."_

" _Admiral Dunsworth. I gave you an order."_

Rorik looked around the bridge. "Joker, get the hell out of here."

" _Thank you, Rorik."_

" _Fleet Admiral Dunsworth."_

"Admiral Jaal. Shepard saved my life and now I'm returning the favor."

" _Dunsworth, you are facing court martial charges."_

Rorik held a hand by his neck. "Go to hell!" He quickly swiped and the communication was severed. "Send coordinates to Joker for an RV and get us out of here!"

He watched as the _Delta_ does a complete 180 and exited to warp.

 _ **Hey guys. Yeah so, there possibly goes Rorik's career. But It wouldn't be the first time Rorik went out of his way to help people without thinking about his career. It's due to his past. After the raiding party on his home, he kinda developed a no-man-left-behind attitude. I may add a bonus chapter, from Quinn's POV from the time he learns about the trap to when Rorik told Admiral Jaal to go to hell. I hope you are liking the story so far.**_


	12. Bonus Chapter

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect _or_ Star Trek Online**

 _Bonus Chapter_

 _Admiral Quinn's office; Earth Spacedock_

Quinn laid back in his chair. Honestly, he thought that Command has no business using the Normandy for black ops. Then, Linnea knocked on his office door, jolting him back to the now. "Admiral?"

He leans forward. "Yes, Lieutenant?" She looks like she is depressed. "Linnea, what's wrong?"

"Admiral, there is some-"

Then someone with a limp walked past her. Then Quinn recognized him as the pilot of the Normandy, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau. Moreau walks up to the desk. "What the hell?!"

Quinn stands up. "Mr. Moreau, please, calm down. What are you talking about?"

"It was damn trap! What the hell? I thought you trusted us?!"

"Hold on. Our intel was good. Starfleet Intelligence looked over it multiple times. What happened and where's Shepard?"

"Shepard was captured. He said that it was a trap then nothing."

"Damn. Tell the _Liberty_. I will talk to the rest of Command."

 _Sometime later; Starfleet Command_

Quinn slammed the door to his office. He could not believe them. The other admirals have grounded the _Liberty_ and the Normandy, saying that Shepard is not a citizen of this galaxy. He slammed his hands on his table. They won't let even Shepard's crew rescue him. Then the console beeped. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Acting Captain Mirra. He calmed himself down before he answered it. "This is Admiral Quinn."

 _"Admiral, this is Acting Captain Mirra. Why is the_ Liberty _grounded?"_

"The other admirals figured that Rorik would initiate a rescue mission."

 _"Sir, what now?"_

"Mirra, send a message to the crew of the _Liberty Delta_. I will have the ship upgraded with the latest tech and waiting on the ESD. You will only have a few minutes before the rest of Command notices. But don't leave without both the Normandy and Dunsworth."

 _"Yes, sir."_

 _Shipyard; Earth Spacedock_

Quinn walked over to the person in charge of upgrading the _Liberty Delta_. "Lieutenant."

The Andorian turned faced and saluted Quinn. "Admiral."

Quinn returned the salute. "How is she?" Behind the Andorian, Quinn saw the crew sneak aboard.

The engineer checked his tricorder. "It's finished. The upgrades you wanted are installed and the ship is ready to fly."

"Good." The engineer started to turn around. "Why don't you tell me about the upgrades?" he asked trying to buy time.

The lieutenant started to talk. "Well, first of all, we-" Then the ship roared to life as the last of the crew went through and closed the airlock. He turned around and asked, to no one in particular, "Who's taking the ship?" Quinn just backed away, smiling.

 _Sometime later_

Quinn walked to traffic control. Admiral Jaal is currently talking to Joker. _"-his life to save mine! If you won't help us, then screw you!"_

"Flight Lieutenant. You will stand down."

 _"Lady, I can't and I won't!"_

"Admiral Dunsworth, you will disable their ship and then power down yours."

 _"Rorik! Shepard gave his life to save mine years ago. And five years ago, he risked his life to save yours and your crew's."_

"Admiral Dunsworth. I gave you an order."

 _"Joker, get the hell out of here."_

 _"Thank you, Rorik."_

"Fleet Admiral Dunsworth."

 _"Admiral Jaal. Shepard saved my life and now I'm returning the favor."_

"Dunsworth, you are facing court martial charges."

 _"Go to hell!"_ Quinn smiled as he watches both the Normandy and the _Liberty_ enter warp.

Jaal turned around and faced Quinn. "Admiral, I suspect that you had a hand in this."

"Admiral. They did this on their own accord. You should know Dunsworth. This isn't the first time he went off the reserve."

"Fine. Lead a team to bring Dunsworth back for court martial."


	13. Chapter 11

**_I don't own_** **Mass Effect** ** _or_** **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 11_

 _Ready Room,_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta _; Bhea System, Vulcan Sector_

Rorik sat in his ready room, looking at the information provided by Quinn. He tapped a button on his holographic arm interface to start a personal log. "Personal log. Stardate: 95414.6905. The crew and I have successfully stolen the _Liberty Delta_. This is probably the stupidest career choice we have ever done. But Shepard save my life and the lives of my crew five years ago." He smiles. "Heck. Even if I wasn't gonna lead them, my crew would have stolen the _Delta_ and launched a rescue mission without me. But then again, if Shepard only saved my life, my crew would have followed me anyway. Not because I'm their captain, but because we are family. Quinn provided both the _Delta_ and all information he has about the mission that Shepard was sent on. Looking at the copy of the mission briefing, I noticed a few things that are tell-tell signs of false info. No wonder why Command deny it. To me, it looks like fucking Section 31 gave all the admirals, but Quinn, the orders to send Shepard and deny even the Normandy to rescue them. Shepard doesn't deserve this shit! End of log." He presses the button and stops recording. Then a knock comes from the door. "It's open." Naturally, he expects Yolis to walk through the door, but instead Lieutenant Commander Drema Patience Kara walks in and stands at attention. "At ease, Lieutenant Commander."

She stands at ease and walks closer to his desk. "Captain. We have a problem."

"What is it?"

"Sir, Admiral Quinn has followed us and is requesting to speak with you." Rorik sighs as he stands up and walks out of the room.

He walks over to his chair but doesn't sit in it. He looks over at Allard. "Onscreen." She nods and a second later, Rorik sees Quinn's face appear. "Quinn, I looked over everything. Section 31 is behind this. I wouldn't be surprised if it's Drake."

" _Are you sure?"_

"Not 100%. But I know for sure, it's Section 31."

" _But why?"_

"I don't know. But I will find out."

" _Dunsworth. I have to try to bring you in."_

"I understand." He looks at the bridge crew. "Shields up."

Drema looks at him, confused. "S-Sir?"

"Do it."

He hears the familiar subtle hum of the shields powering on. Quinn says, with regret in his voice, _"I'm sorry, Clifton. Shields up and aim to disable."_

"Irani, evasive maneuvers!" He felt the ship move under him as the ship banked hard to starboard. "Giphat. Retune the shield frequency and change the weapons to match."

At his station, Giphat says, "Acknowledge," as he goes to work.

 _Unknown Klingon holding facility._

Shepard was being hanged in some rusted shackles by his wrists, blood flowing down his arms and his face. He heard footsteps, looked up and saw someone new walking back up to him. If he could have a few minutes he would remember what species she is. She was as tall as him and was green, and as she walked up seductively, he could feel something similar to what Morinth tried to do to him, trying to override his brain. She walked up to him and put a hand on his bloody, scarred chest, trying to look innocent, and said, "Oh, sweet thing. Do you need anything?"

"My throat is a bit parched. Can you get me some water, please?"

She steps back and says, "Of course, sweetie." She disappears for a minute or two before returning with a cup of water. "Here you go. Drink," she says as she brings the cup to his lips. As she lowers the cup, she asks, "That better, sweet thing?"

He smiles. "Yeah, thanks. Who are you?"

She smiles so sweetly. "My name is Miggi Zegos. What's your name?" she asks as she gives him another drink.

After he swallows the water, he replies, "Shepard."

As she puts the empty cup down, she smiles and puts a hand on his chest. "Well, Shepard. I-" Shepard turned his eyes to the giant reptile that's walking up to them. Miggi sees this and turns around and stutters out, "H-Hebizs. B-Back s-so soon?"

The reptile glares at her. With a voice that would belong to a talking snake, he says, "Get losst, girl." She ran past him, and as she got further away, the feeling that Shepard had decreased. Looking at Shepard, Hebizs hissed, "Sso, Commander. Where did we leave off?"

 _Bridge,_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta _; Bhea System, Vulcan Sector_

The battle was short, pointless but successful. Quinn's ship was disabled. Rorik had no time to waste. He walked over to Allard. "Send a message to Joker. Give him new coordinates." He looks to Irani. "Get us out of here."

Irani looked at him. "Yes, sir." Rorik watched as the ship turned away and entered warp.

 _Unknown Klingon holding facility._

Shepard yelled with pain as whip's hot metal-tipped ends hit his back, tearing flesh and cauterizing the wounds. His head slumped down and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Miggi watching from the shadows. Hebizs walked in front of him, slight sizzling on the tips of the whip from the blood. "Sso, I will assk you again. When will Sstarfleet come for thiss basse?"

"I told you. We are not Starfleet. How can you not tell?"

Then the back of a scaly hand made contact with his cheek, scratching the outside and busting the inside. "I'm assking the quesstionss! Where did your sship go?"

"Away from here or wherever we are. What did you expect?"

Then a hand grabbed his face and made he look at the Gorn. He had dropped the whip and prepared to use his claws on him. Then a deep voice yelled at him, _"Hebizs!"_ He looked behind him, turned back to Shepard and let go. He stood straight up, he hunched over to be at Shepard's height, and walked away to the Klingon that called him.

The two talked for a bit then left. As soon as the door closed, Miggi ran up to him. "Shepard. It's a bad idea to make him mad."

"I didn't know, really. I guess that is why he was going to use his claws." He smiles.

She gently grabs the sides of his face and kisses his cheek. "Let's get out of here."

Alarm bells rang in Shepard's head, as the feeling came back. "You're being so nice to me. Why?"

"I-" Shepard heard the footsteps too. Before he could say anything, Miggi had run back to her shadowy corner as the doors opened. Hebizs and the new Klingon walked through the door.

Hebizs grabbed his whip and walked behind Shepard while the Klingon walked up to him and said, "Commander Shepard. I'm impressed. You have lasted longer than anyone else."

Shepard smiles. "And who are you?"

"Quiet, _petaQ_. You will quit asking question and start giving answers."

And right on que, Shepard felt the whip tear his flesh.

 _An hour later_

Shepard was on the verge of passing out by the time the two left. Miggi walked up to him with a cup of water. "Here. Drink. There is some, what you would call painkillers, in it." When the water touched his tongue, he felt that there was something different about the water, but there was too much pain lingering to think about what it was. All he could do is to hope that it was some kind of painkillers.

"Thank you," he said when the cup parted his lips. "But why are you helping me?"

If he didn't know any better, he thought she started to blush. Instead of answering, she simply brought up her lips to meet his. As she kissed him, he noticed that the feeling he had when she first came was gone. As she pulled back, the door opens and Hebizs grabs Miggi by the neck and threw her against the wall. He hisses right in her face, "Girl, I told you to get losst."

In the water was enough painkillers to allow him to pull against the rusted shackles. When his right arm breaks free, a noise was created that drew the attention of the Gorn. As soon as the Gorn let go of Miggi, he threw the ends of the whip at Shepard. Thinking quickly, Shepard activated his omni-tool, which the ends wrapped around, and wrapped his hand in the cords. Pulling with both arms, Shepard's left arm broke free and he used the momentum to close the distance between the two. Shepard wrapped his left arm around the neck, in the movement he deactivated his omni-tool and the straps fell to the ground harmlessly, put his hand in his right elbow, with his right hand behind the Gorn's head. After a struggle, Shepard twisted the head and heard a sickening crack as the neck broke and the body went limped. Shepard walked up to Miggi, who was in shock. She stutters, "I-I n-n-never s-seen a human d-do that." When Shepard gets close, she backs herself into a corner. "N-No. P-Please don't hurt me."

Shepard keels down. "I'm not going to hurt you. You allowed this to happen. You allowed me to get free." He stands up and holds out a hand. "Come with me, please. I can help you." She reaches a hand out, tenderly. When she grabbed his hand, he helped her up carefully. Then the door opened and three Klingons with metal rods ran into the room. He looks at her and says, "Hide!" She nods as he runs into one, tackling him. He quickly stood up and grabbed the rod. The one from his left swung at him. Shepard ducked and jabbed the rod in his stomach. He stands and hits the neck with another crack. Then something grabbed Shepard's arms. As the third Klingon swung at him, Shepard threw the guy over his shoulder, which caused the first one to fly into the third and knocked them both down, on top of each other. He then drew his omni-blade out and stabbed them both.

As he drew the blade out, Miggi walked up to him. "Sh-Shepard, what are you?"

As he stood up, he heard footsteps approaching the door. Quickly, he grabbed Miggi and threw both of themselves into a wall near the door. As he let go of her mouth, he brought up one finger to his lips. As he faced the door, he drew one of his omni-blades and sneaked closer. Then the door opened. As soon as he saw a gun, he threw up a hand, grabbing the barrel and throwing it up, and he sunk his blade into the new Klingon. But he had to move quickly as disrupter plasma fire opened up on him. He looked around the corner and saw that they were grouped closely together. Looking at the gun, Shepard remembered that Rorik told him that all the energy weapons emit the energy at the edge of the barrel. He looked at his feet and saw one of the metal rods. He kneeled down, picked it up and jammed it into the barrel. He pulled the trigger and he heard the gun starting to build up a charge. Activating his Adrenalin Rush, he rolled out of cover, threw the gun at the group, and then rolled back into cover. He hit the door control with his elbow, closing it just as the gun overloaded. Just as the door fully closed, the explosion blew the doors open. He looked around the corner then at Miggi. "It's clear, now. Can you lead me to my gear?"

"I-I'll try." They left the room.

 ** _So, I don't know how Section 31 will fit in yet. The Klingon commander never expected Shepard to last as long as he did which is why he was in rusted shackles, also it took awhile for Shepard to twist the neck of the Gorn. And I know that in these chapter epilogues I'm all over the place._**


	14. Chapter 12

**_I don't own_** **Mass Effect** ** _or_** **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 12_

 _Unknown Klingon facility_

Shepard followed Miggi as she led the way to the armory. When they reached a door, Miggi walked over to the panel. After typing and looking at the information on it, she said, "This is the armory. If you could just give me a minute, I think I can open the door."

Shepard nods, then he heard footsteps approaching. Turning his head to where the noise was coming from, he said, "Miggi, I don't think we have the time." He walked up to her. "Excuse me," he said as he lightly moved her over. He activated his omni-tool and initiated the hacking program. When he held the tool to the console, a bar appeared over the arm part, as the hand part stayed on the console. As the footsteps got louder, the door opened enough for Shepard to put his hands in. He paused the hacking then he wedged his hand into the gap and pushed the door open enough to fit his body in the doorway. He looks at the Orion. "Get in." After she slides past him, he deactivates his omni-tool and slips into the armory, and the door fully closes. He puts an ear close to the door, and hears the footsteps get close to the door then stop. He slowly looks at Miggi and quietly puts a finger on his lips, telling her to be quiet. As he puts an ear back on the door, he heard a noise that he wishes didn't happen right now.

" _Achoo."_

On the other side of the door, Shepard heard someone yelling out orders to open the door. He smiles as he heard someone yelled out from being shocked by the console. He thought, _'God bless you, Tali.'_ Tali made some modifications to his omni-tool, including the one that shocked the person and fried the console. He turned to Miggi. "That bought us some time. Grab some armor or something to protect yourself and a weapon." He saw that she was looking at his armor as she brought it to him. "Thank you," he said as he grabbed it from her gently.

 _A few minutes later_

Shepard, now in his armor, grabbed his weapons. With his helmet HUD now synced up, he saw that they never tried to test the guns out. _'Good,'_ he thought, _'I have full ammo.'_ He looks over at Miggi and saw that she had a light armor and she grabbed a pistol. They nodded at each other and Shepard saw something behind her. Walking past her, he grabs the big gun and takes it off the rack. Lifting it up, Shepard said, "Woah, nice." He didn't have too much time to admire it as something hits the door and shakes the room. He looks at the door and sees a huge dent. Another explosion and Shepard could see through the small hole that the new dent caused. He stood ready and charged the gun up. When a third explosion swung the door open, Shepard pulled back on the trigger and streams of green laser bolts left his gun and went through the smoke. After a few minutes his HUD switched to IR vision to see through the smoke and he saw that the coast was clear. He released the trigger and looked at Miggi. "Let's go." She nods as they both leave the armory.

 _Conference room,_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta _; near the Eridon Nebula, Sanek Sector_

" _Personal log. Stardate: 95445.3894. The_ Liberty Delta _has entered the Sanek Sector. I have called an officer meeting in order to figure out how to get most of the information from the base."_ Rorik sat at the head of the table and looked at the officers. Everyone was here, except for Yolis and Mirra. He leaned forward and rested his chin on the hands and his elbows on the table. "Guys, I need options for when we reach the base. Giphat?"

Giphat straighten up a bit. "Sir, I suggest we introduce a virus. The Trojan Horse, as you call it, would infect the computer systems and allow us to download the required information. Plus, the nebula would allow us to hide."

Six of Nine spoke up. "I have to disagree with you, Commander. The base has been there long enough, by the reports, to have their sensors adjusted to compensate for the nebula and because of that, our sensors and instruments would be more affected by it."

Rorik nods. "Thank you both. Yo-E'Zmon?"

"Sir, I believe that we can fine tune our equipment to compensate for the nebula. But I can't hide this ship from their sensors."

"Thank you. Drema?"

"Sir, I believe that the only way that we can accurately get the info we need is to launch an assault. We hit them hard and fast enough and they won't have any time to wipe their computers."

Rorik thought about it. That is what Shepard did and he got captured. "Thank you all for your input. You are dismissed."

They all stood up as Allard came over the intercom. _"Captain. You have an incoming transmission over the QEC that we installed into the holodecks."_

"Thank you. I'll take it in Holodeck C." He walks out of the conference room.

 _Holodeck C_

Rorik walked into Holodeck C and over to the controls. After inputting a few commands, Rorik walked into the middle of the room. After a bit the blue hologram images of Mirra, Yolis and Alexis appeared and Rorik's heart soared. Alexis yelled out, _"Daddy!"_ but didn't run up to him.

"Hey, sweetie. How are you?"

" _Better now that I can see you."_

He smiles. "Good. I hope you're being strong for Mommy." She smiles as she nods. "That's my girl. Would you mind leaving for a bit, please. I have to talk to Mommy and Auntie Mirra." As she leaves, he looks at the two officers on leave. "Yolis, Mirra. I'm afraid I have some bad news. Sometime ago I had to disable Quinn's ship. Yolis, take our girl away from Earth. Leave Sol. Hell, go to Paradox, if you have to."

Yolis and Mirra looked at each other for they knew that for him to mention Paradox, something had to be very wrong. Yolis looked at him and asked, _"Honey, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"_

"31." That is all he has to say.

" _What?!"_

"In the briefing that Quinn gave me I had to look closely to find the patterns. I don't know who, I don't know why but I intend to find out." He walked closer to the hologram image of his wife. "Promise me, dear, that you will leave Earth."

" _Clifton-"_

He put his one hand on a holographic shoulder and the other on the holographic face. "Yolis, promise me. Please, leave Earth. Use fake names. Go to Paradox, if you have to." Tears started to flow from his eyes. "Please, baby. Please. I love you, so please trust me and do what I say. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm ordering you. But I can't take the chance of anything happening to either of you."

It's hard to tell but it looks like Yolis is also starting to cry. _"Ba-baby. I… I will. I love you."_

"I love you too." He turns his head to Mirra. "Commander, you keep them safe."

" _Yes, sir."_

Rorik looked at his wife. "I have to go now. Stay safe."

" _You too. If you die on me I will kick your ass, then I will mourn you."_

They both smiled at that. "I promised you that I would never leave you." Then the images started to distort. "I have to go."

" _Of course. It's our QEC. It's starting-"_ The images cut out and Rorik stood holding the air that was occupied by the hologram of his wife.

Over the intercom, Lye'tis said, _"Attention, all decks. We are less than a lightyear away from the nebula. Captain to the bridge, please. Repeat, captain to the bridge."_ Rorik left the holodeck and went to the elevator.

 _Bridge_

Rorik walked off the elevator and to his seat as Lieutenant Lye'tis, possibly the only Kobali on a Starfleet vessel, got out of his way and to her own seat. He sat down and said, "Six, E'Zmon. Adjust the sensors to compensate for the nebula."

Six replied. "Yes, sir."

 _In the facility_

Shepard ducked behind cover as disrupter fire broke out at him. He poked the heavy weapon out around the cover and fired a burst. As he pulled the gun back, he noticed Miggi firing a few beams from her pistol. He was still wary of her but so far, she has proven useful. He looked at the group firing at him. Behind them is the main control room, according to her. He pulled the gun out again and pulled the trigger but only a clicking sound happened. _'Damn,'_ he thought as he tossed it to the side. He reached up for his assault rifle and met the stock as it extended out. He peeked out and saw that they were together. He mods his rifle with disruptor ammo and loads a concussive round into the gun. But before he does anything else, he checks to see if the Claymore has a clip loaded into it. After he checks he swings the gun around, aims slightly above the Gorn in the middle and fired. As the round left the barrel, Shepard activated his ocular synaptic processors. He put his rifle up and grabbed the shotgun from behind his waist and ran towards them, just as the modified concussive shot hit the Gorn and the effect spread to the surrounding forces disabling their shields. He slid closer to the group and shock registered on their faces as Shepard pulled the trigger and felt a jolt in his arm for the first time as the shotgun recoiled from the power. The shrapnel left the barrel at a high velocity that the pieces went through several enemies.

Miggi walked up to him as he shook out the jolt in his arm. "You ok?"

His arm was tingling as he looked at her. "No. My arm is probably numb now, which is a first with this gun," he said as he pumped the gun. He decided to put the shotgun up and grabbed the Shuriken. With his arm numb, he couldn't use the bigger guns with accuracy. He looked at the machine pistol and switched it to semiauto and then he pulled out the Predator. He plants his back to the wall on the side of the door and looked at Miggi, and motioned to her to open the door. It took a bit but she managed to open the door.

 _Bridge,_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta

Rorik walked up to Six. "Status?"

Six looked up at him then back at her console. "We have adjusted our sensors and found that there is firefight going on in the facility."

Rorik smiled. "Shepard doesn't give up, does he?"

Six smiled. She seems more human than the average Liberated Borg, considering that she still has the same implants. "Apparently not."

He walked over to his chair and activated his intercom. "This is the captain. Away team to transporter room 2." As he walked to the elevator, he said, "Lye'tis, you have the conn."

 ** _Hey guys. So everyone should know why but I will just explain anyway. After days, maybe weeks, of torture it seems reasonable that even Shepard would feel the effect, especially when he uses the Claymore. I'm still not sure on where Section 31 is involved._**


	15. Chapter 13

_**I don't own**_ **Mass Effect** _ **or**_ **Star Trek Online**

 _Chapter 13_

 _Klingon Facility_

Shepard ducked down in cover as green bolts and beams flew over him. When there was a break in the fire, he popped up and fired a few rounds at the enemies, wounding some and killed a few. As they started to shoot back, he ducked down and saw Miggi trying to unlock the console. Shepard yelled over the firefight, " _How's it coming_?!"

She yelled over her shoulder, "I have taken down the shields to this place, there is an older ship out there that has not been out here in almost a decade!"

He put a gun over his cover and fired a few rounds out. " _What ship_?!"

" _It looks like- Agh!"_ Shepard looked over and she was clutching one of her arms. He puts the Predator up and ran to her. He puts his arm around her waist and took her to hide behind cover. "Uh, it's fine. It's the _Delta_. The _Liberty_ _Delta_."

As Shepard applied medi-gel to the wound, he smiled and said, " _I knew he would come for us_."

She inhaled sharply then asked, "'Him'? 'Us'?"

 _A minute ago. Transporter room 2;_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta

Rorik looped the harness over his shoulder and connected the ends, activating the holographic armor and upgrading his wrist interface to the combat model. As he grabbed his phaser rifle and the sword he got from the Coliseum Arena, the transporter chief, Chief Lineas, spoke up. "Captain!"

Rorik looked at her. "Yes, Chief?"

"Sir, the shield is down, I can transport you into the control room. You're gonna have to duck, as I'm sending you into a firefight behind some cover."

Rorik nods. "Understood." He looks at the away team. "You heard her. Get into position and duck." He steps onto a pad and looks at the chief. "Energize."

Shepard was about to speak when he heard the noise of someone transporting in. He raises the Shuriken and aims at the five blue lights but doesn't fire. After a few seconds, Rorik and four others finished materializing and was already taking cover. Rorik ran over to him. "Shepard, thank God."

" _Rorik, it seems like you brought two ships with you, I assume that the_ Omega _is keeping any ships back_?"

Rorik shook his head. "No, it's just the _Delta_ and the Normandy. The _Omega_ has been grounded. I'll tell you later." His eyes flared when he saw the Orion women behind Shepard. "Shepard, what are you doing with her?"

Shepard flinched as a bolt his cover near his helmeted head. He fired two three round bursts then looked at Rorik. His voice came through the filtration system. _"She has helped so far. She gave me something to help me escape and get here."_

Rorik shook his head. "Shepard take it from me. Do **not** trust Orion women."

Behind Shepard, the woman yelled at him, although her speech is a bit slurred, "I got shot! Explain that!"

Rorik glared at her. "So what?"

Shepard looked at her. " _I have to agree with Rorik. Just because you got shot doesn't mean you're innocent. I've seen it before_."

"Fuck you then!" As she started to stand up, Shepard dove at her, taking a few bolts, but kept her safe. Rorik shook his head, as he fired a few phaser bolts at the Klingons. He kept the fire on him and the away team, as he saw that Six was sneaking around to try to close the doors. It took a bit but Six was able to fuse the doors shut as Giphat searched the computers for any mention of the others.

Rorik walked over to Shepard. "I need to speak with you. Alone." As the woman walked away, Rorik looks at him, "You have to trust me, Orion women can influence the minds of men. It happened to me a few times."

Shepard looked at him. " _I remember that from the description. I trust you, but now you have to trust me. I have fought and won against mind domination before. Besides, she hasn't tried to use it on me in a while. But I will keep a close eye on her_."

Rorik opened his mouth about to say something but then he shut it. If he said he faced something similar and won, then that is what happened. Shepard has sent him personal reports of all of his missions, not that he had the time to read all of them due to family. He walked up to Giphat and asked, "How's it going?"

Giphat interacted alternatively with his wrist interface and the computer. "Not finished downloading the database yet."

"No offense but I only what to know where my people are _,"_ Rorik looked behind him and saw Shepard standing there. " _I'm sorry but you can get the rest of the information later._ "

Giphat takes a second to look at Shepard, then returned to his work, while saying, "That would not be possible. Our best chance is to download all the data and look over it when we are safer." And as if to prove his point a small dent appeared in one of the doors with a thud. Giphat looks at the door and says, "It seems like we only have an hour at most."

 _45 minutes later..._

Six has joined Giphat in downloading the information off of the console, while everyone else, except for the Orion woman called Miggi, put up cover for the computer and for them to use. Rorik had called down a small bomb to disable the outpost and get rid of the evidence of the download. He looked over at his engineers. "How much longer?"

Six replied without looking at him, "My half is almost done." Giphat walked to him, grabbed his rifle and fabricated a shield generator. "It will take approximately twenty minutes to finish the download."

Another blast caused a hole to appear in the door, and Shepard puts a shard of metal called a bullet, from his big red rifle through said hole and was rewarded with a burst of pink blood. However, the kick of the rifle caused him to he curse out, " _SHIT!_ " as he clutched his bicep.

Rorik looked at E'Mzon and pointed his head at Shepard. He then looked at Six, "Six, you better put it in overdrive. I doubt you will have those twenty minutes." She nods as he says to the group, "Get ready." Everyone aims at the door. Then an explosion opened the door wide enough and Rorik yelled out, "Open fire!" Phaser and disrupter energy started to fly. Rorik ducked down and blind fired a few rounds.

Next to him, Shepard pulled out a pistol and fired three rounds quickly enough that it seems like it's an auto pistol. While everyone else had to work on taking one persons out, Shepard just fires two bursts and kills a Klingon, but then again, Rorik was just trying to keep them at bay so Six could work on the console. As Rorik popped his head up and fired a few rounds he saw a familiar metal orb heading towards Six's direction. Ignoring the disrupter bolts and beams, Rorik ran behind the cover that Six and the console was behind and tackled Six just before the photon grenade exploded. Looking up, he saw that the console was scrapped. "Damn," he muttered under his breath, before looking at Six and asking, "You OK?" She nods as he activates his combadge, "Transporter room! Emergency beam-out!"

 _Transporter room 2;_ U.S.S. Liberty Delta _,_

Rorik looked up saw that everyone, including the Orion, beamed up safely. He heard Chief Lineas say, "Medical team to transporter room 2."

Rorik stood up and offered his hand to Six, who took it and stood up. She asks, "Let me guess. The computer got fried."

"Yeah. Photon grenade. Speaking of which," he said as he pressed a button on his wrist interface, "there goes the room." He walks over to the transporter console as the CMO, Doctor T'pre, walked in and began to scan the away team. He presses a button on the console to open the comms to the bridge. "Hen'Kel, take us out," he lowers his voice, "and send a female or Vulcan security team to transporter room 2."

" _Copy that, Captain."_

He turned around and saw T'pre scanning Shepard just as a security team walked in. He walked up to the leader, another Vulcan called Vatik, and said, "Take the Orion to the brig. Use only Vulcans or females as guards."

He replied with, "That is very logical, Captain." He walked off and said something to 'Miggi' as Rorik shook his head.

He walks up just as T'pre prepares a hypo for Shepard, who took his helmet off, and says, "This should help with any arm pain."

"OK. Just give me a sec to take the armor off," he says as he starts to remove enough of his armor to get an injection.

Then an explosion caused the ship to rock. Hen'Kel came over the intercom as the Red Alert lights came on and the siren sound, _"Captain, you're needed on the bridge."_

Rorik looked up and said, "I'm on my way." He darted through the doors and ran to the elevator.

 _Bridge,_

Rorik jogged out of the elevator and into the middle of the Alliance Bridge. He yelled out to no one in particular, "Status report!"

Lye'tis said from her station, "Port side shields at 95%. It seems to be a warning shot from the ship off our port bow."

Rorik turns to Allard and started to say, "Lieutenant, try to-"

She interrupts him, "They are hailing us, sir."

As he walks to his chair, he says, "On screen." The visual connected had some static due to the nebula but was clear enough to see the Klingon captain. "This is Captain Rorik of the _U.S.S. Liberty Delta_. Identify yourself!"

The Klingon snarled when he heard the name of the ship. _"This is Us'irf, captain of the_ I.K.S JuHqo'Hung _. What is the famous_ Liberty Delta _doing so far inside Klingon territory?"_

"A friend of mine has being held here. I came to see if I could talk to the CO of the station into releasing him. When we got here, we were immediately fired upon. We had no choice but to disable the station, and get my friend."

The Klingon snarled again. _"We received a distress call from this station, stating it was under attack. The only reason we didn't just open fire was the respect that is owed to the_ Liberty _line and her captain."_

"I appreciate that, Captain. If you could give me just a few minutes, I will transfer all the information from the main computer to you. By doing so I hope that we can keep things civil. My friend made his way to the control room and was under attack. In trying to keep the peace, we started to download all the information from the computer, however, we couldn't get it all. A grenade scrapped the computer, which caused the ordinance my friend took to the control room to start to go off. I'm sorry that the room has been destroyed."

Once again, he snarled. _"Very well. You have three minutes to start transmitting the data."_

Rorik stood up. "With all due respect, the information is stored in two halves. It might take longer than that to figure which goes first then transfer it."

" _Three minutes."_ The view screen cut off.

"Damn." Rorik activates the intercom. "Six, Giphat. Please tell me you have already started to sort through the data."

Six's voice came through. _"Yes, Captain. However, you should get down here to Engineering."_

"I'm on my way." He closes the intercom and looks at E'Mzon. "Commander, you have the conn," he says as he heads to the elevator.

 _Engineering,_

Rorik walks over to Six and Giphat. "What's wrong?"

Giphat turns around while Six continues to work on the console. "Captain, we heard the exchange between you and the Klingon captain. I had it where we would receive the audio and not send any out. The other captain was not entirely true about the distress call."

Rorik was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Six speaks up without turning her head, "The signal did go through the channel, but it was more like it piggybacked on to it. The signal did not originate from the station, but from a ship."

"What ship?"

"We don't know. Here, listen," she says as she interacts with the console.

A garbled voice came through the speakers on the console. _"Attention, this is… Station, we are under attack…._ Liberty Delta _. We need…."_

Rorik had a hand on his chin while he listened. When it was over, he asks, "It's garbled, but that doesn't make sense. We only took out the disruptor banks. We couldn't have caused that much damage."

Giphat spoke up. "We never got scanned either."

"Wait. You're saying that we didn't get scanned at all?" Giphat shakes his head. "So, we got a random ship piggybacking a fake distress call onto a channel, and that said ship never scanning us or our registry, yet know what ship this is." His hand moves from his chin to his eyes and starts squeezing the bridge of his nose. "Download everything we need, and wipe any evidence of us doing anything that contradicts what I have said."

Six has working on the console while Rorik was talking. "Already on it. It should take a few minutes."

Rorik checks his wrist interface. "You have one minute and forty seconds to start transmitting. I'll try to buy some time." He starts to walk away.

Giphat says, "Captain. I would like to speak with you. In private, sometime."

Rorik looks at him. "Later, right now help Six out." He walks out of Engineering and into the corridor where Shepard is waiting. "Shepard," he says as Shepard falls into step with him.

"Captain, I would like to talk with EDI. I'm sure she can help."

"A few minutes ago, yeah. But now's not a good time."

"Very well. Also, the Mako is on the asteroid."

As they approached the elevator, Rorik simply said, "Check the shuttle bay." He stepped into the elevator. "Bridge."

 _Bridge,_

As he stepped out of the elevator, he glanced at the timer. About half a minute left. He walks to the middle of the bridge and says, "Open a channel." The staticky picture of the Klingon appears. "Captain Us'irf, I thank you for your patience, but with respect we need another minute, tops."

He snarls again. _"Fine. One minute. But that's it."_ The channel closes as Rorik releases the breath he was holding with relief.

He walks over to his chair and opens the intercom to Engineering. "Bridge to Engineering."

" _This is Six."_

"Six, you have one minute to finish if we are to avoid a battle."

" _Almost done."_

Rorik smiles at that. "You never waste a second, do you?"

He hears her give a small chuckle. _"No, sir. I do not. In fact, we… are… ready to transmit."_

He smiles as he looks to Allard and nods. The screen come to life again with the Klingon's face. "Captain. We are ready to transmit with your permission." The Klingon nods and Rorik nods to Allard. He turns back to Us'irf. "In trying to figure out which half went first, we noticed something strange. It seems like the distress signal did not originate from the facility. It was sent on the base's signal but was originated from a ship. We don't know yet why, but I intend to find out."

The Klingon grabs the PADD that one of his officers hands him. After looking at for a bit, he looks up. _"Hmm. I suppose this could be true."_

A different officer walked up to the captain and said, _"Don't listen! It could be a trick."_

Rorik walked closer to the screen. "And who is this?"

The Klingon officer looks at Rorik. _"And why do you want to know?"_

He shrugs his shoulders as Rorik says, "Just so I know whose ass to kick for not believing the facts."

The officer growled as the captain and the others chuckled. _"How do you say it, name the time and the place, human."_

Rorik smiled. "How 'bout right now, in one of your holodecks," he said holding his arms out to his side.

Us'irf laughed and said, _"I like your spirit, Captain. I will have to transported directly to a holodeck, as soon as you drop your shields. You have my word as a warrior and a Klingon we will power down our weapons."_

Rorik looked at Lye'tis. She said with practiced ease, "Their weapons are cold."

"Lower the shields."

"Shields down."

Rorik looked at the other captain and saw that he was speaking into his intercom. _"Transporter room. Beam Captain Rorik directly to a holodeck."_

* * *

 _ **Hey guys sorry about taking so long to update this story. And for those who don't know, Shepard, my Shepard at least, was able to resist Morinth's mind domination which is similar if not stronger than the Orion's version.**_


	16. interlude

Hey guys. There's been an issue that came up. Someone stole my laptop that has my story on it. So new chapters are on hold for now. Honestly, I don't know when I'll get it back. Thank you for your patience.


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